Forget MP3 - The future is WMA with Digital Rights Managment

[Antinoise]

While everyone is looking behind their shoulder bitching about people sealing music MP3's everyone has been blind to the future. Microsoft’s latest Windows Media Audio 10 (.WMA) that has DRM (Digital Rights Management) is uncrackable thus far. Windows also releases updates to windows that constantly secure it even further.

Final Scratch currently supports WMA but not the latest version with DRM.. Why I don't know... I'm sure in the next release Final Scratch, as well as all other legit digital media players will support WMA with DRM and we will enter a new generation of secure music.

The only down side to this is Mac is too stubborn to support WMA. This is going to end up hurting Apple in all their audio and video business models unless they open their eyes. (Ipod, Itunes...etc) (****Related but unrelated.... Napster’s new pay $10.00 per month model (which uses WMA) kills the 99c iTune’s model... And now ITunes can't adopt such a model because the mp4 encryption they use is not secure enough to let people download all the music they want...... buy stock in Napster, sell your Apple stock)

Yes there will always be people that will record the output to an input, but my feeling is as long as its inherently secure, it will work. There will always be a layer of thievry amongst us. The fact is: a system that sells artist mastered WMA files over the web is so efficient there is way more to be gained than lost.

It is the furture, I can't believe it has yet to be discussed on this forum. Embrace it!!

[g]

i was going to ignore the maven thing.. nothing new about that

but the day wma is the future of anything....

dude.

no.

[Antinoise]

...the day wma is the future of anything....

dude.

no.

Whatever... keep swinning upstream with your eyes closed....
Its been out for 6 months and still uncracked...

[dirty_bass]

Wow, thanks for that. Very interesting.
An uncrackable (or at least difficult to crack) digital media is just the ticket. :clap:

[eyes without a face]

very interesting post, altho the quality of WMA needs to improve if this way to develop into a marketable media

i dont know the technical specs of WMA but the files i have in this format just seem a bit below par sound quality wise

but this is a good point, one most will brush aside straight away but definately something to think about at least

[schlongfingers]

Someone will hack it, it's software at the end of the day.

[acidsaturation]

So how does this work?

Does this mean that the players will only support files that have been purchased?

So what if you want to put files on a CD you own onto an mp3 player??

I'm confused...

[gumpy green]

Someone will hack it, it's software at the end of the day.

yeh just record it digitally/line in then save as wav.........easy

[TechMouse]

Someone will hack it, it's software at the end of the day.

yeh just record it digitally/line in then save as wav.........easy

Yeah, I was just gonna say this.

Fundamental flaw of anything playing on a PC is that you can always grab it from the back of the soundcard. Whatever encryption there is, whatever clever file format, whatever software jiggery-pokery, it's still playing - and you can do a noiseless recording of that in your OS.

Yes, there's a marginal loss in quality (and I mean marginal), but I doubt you could hear it - especially if you record at a very high sample rate and then dither.

[tocsin]

Wow, thanks for that. Very interesting.
An uncrackable (or at least difficult to crack) digital media is just the ticket. :clap:

There is no such thing. While I haven't tried this out: http://home.wanadoo.nl/lc.staak/freeme.htm

[mrbenn]

You can get WMA to MP3 convertors at the moment

http://www.wma-mp3.com/

But I agree the WMA provides slightly more security, so it is worth looking into, also WMA's can be recorded at a fairly good standard now about 340kb I think

[Joseph Isaac]

Break it down to assembly code and crack it. Only a matter of time.

[Antinoise]

You can get WMA to MP3 convertors at the moment

http://www.wma-mp3.com/

All current WMA to MP3 converters do not work on WMA with DRM (digital rights managment). Its a whole different layer of security.

I just tried the Freeme program.. It would not crack the WMA's (with DRM) that I have.

[gumpy green]

why is ther a need to crack it???

why not just play it into soundcard and record it in real time as wav??with good soundcard/software you wont notice the difference in quality.

[g]

Whatever... keep swinning upstream with your eyes closed.....

LOL. you sound like a televangelist.

a) you don't want to give M$ that much control over your work. trust me. they have a very backward way of thinking about your privacy; i.e. if it suits them, great. otherwise, pfffft.
b) DO NOT rely on them to maintain a consistent format/implementation. a complete library of WMA files has a much higher likelihood of someday being a completely useless library.
c) anything is crackable. ANYTHING. before all this, records could be (re)recorded, CDs could be copied en masse. there's no such thing as secure in this respect. it's just that, like general information & the internet, digital media has made the already very shareable music out there easier to share. it's not like piracy was born yesterday. hello? china?
d) personally i've never encountered a WMA format (including 10) that didn't sound like crap and wasn't a total hassle to deal with.
e) anything from M$ that is supposedly that secure almost positively has the application "phone home" dealio -- M$ is monitoring you and you can be sure it's not just your DRM usage. you've just invited Big Brother in for tea.

all that said, if it works for you, cool. go for it.

but don't try to tell me the earth has just changed rotation because Microsuck has just released yet another self-serving product. doesn't it strike you as odd that they are on version TEN of this format and pretty much the whole world still thinks it's a joke?

[mrbenn]

a) you don't want to give M$ that much control over your work. trust me. they have a very backward way of thinking about your privacy; i.e. if it suits them, great. otherwise, pfffft.
b) DO NOT rely on them to maintain a consistent format/implementation. a complete library of WMA files has a much higher likelihood of someday being a completely useless library.
c) anything is crackable. ANYTHING. before all this, records could be (re)recorded, CDs could be copied en masse. there's no such thing as secure in this respect. it's just that, like general information & the internet, digital media has made the already very shareable music out there easier to share. it's not like piracy was born yesterday. hello? china?
d) personally i've never encountered a WMA format (including 10) that didn't sound like crap and wasn't a total hassle to deal with.
e) anything from M$ that is supposedly that secure almost positively has the application "phone home" dealio -- M$ is monitoring you and you can be sure it's not just your DRM usage. you've just invited Big Brother in for tea.

Some interesting points there, I see what you mean about giving microsoft to much controll over your work, most microsoft programs have alot behind the scenes stuff going on which absoloutly anhilates any privacy you would like on your PC. Most microsoft software is shite, windows for example is a big pile of wank as are publisher & word.

I want an apple mac! [/quote]

[Joseph Isaac]

why is ther a need to crack it???

why not just play it into soundcard and record it in real time as wav??with good soundcard/software you wont notice the difference in quality.

Eggsactly! This is what i do for the satellite radio (Sirius) "exclusives". No way to stop recording...

[Komplex]

I think all this copy protection is a bit of a wank.

There is no way to stop piracy and there NEVER was. If theres a will theres a way and its usually pretty easy too (as demonstrated each and every time). Vinyl, tape, cd, its always easy to copy.

I wish record companies and kunts like the RIAA would stop whining about lost sales because of pirating. Lets face it, if people don't want to buy music, they won't and you can't force them to either. There are too many factors involved.

Just keep the format simple, easy to operate with, realistically priced to manufacture and make sure you put GOOD music on it.

[dirty_bass]

well, some form of encryption to at least make it a bit more difficult is a good thing.
Obviously you can never eliminate it.
but at the moment it is a little over the top.

[Jimfish]

i dont understand what it would actually do?
does it mean you buy a WMA file and and you can only play it back on the pc you bought it on or somthing?
if so that sounds wank, if not then what does it do?