Had to uninstall MM10 because it was causing the error you state.
So far so good.

Although it's only trial software, this old version can be used to convert your napster library to mp3s as well. As of this morning, it was working really well for me. Rips much faster than realtime.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips858.html

I imagine that we'll continue to find old versions like this that do what we need it to do.

Wow... that works carotids... no more nonsense with MM! However, they are right about the volume level... the normalize feature is apparently forced on even when you turn it off from the options menu. This is a pain.

The normalize seemed to be okay for me. I just turned it down some. I think the percentage just makes the file seem a bit too hot.

Plus the music services have started purposely varying track volumes. Another way to try and mess up automated workarounds.

Hmm I havn't noticed varying track volumes give some examples Dampier?

And that's bs because how do they explain that to the legit people using legit portable mp3 players when they have to readjust volume to every single freaking song?

I will realize it when I can transfer my wma's to my iPod.... it is no different than buying a compatible mp3 player..

But I prefer iPod and I use iPod and I keep that subscription up every month anyways <shrug> I don't burn cd's afterwards and I don't give it to anyone else...

Why don't you toss your I-Pod toy and get a real MP3 player?

(I-Pod can't record, doesn't come with a remote, has dismal battery life, can't play gapless, and doesn't support WMA.)

By the way, for anybody who doesn't know for sure, the methods described here *will* cause a loss in quality.

The ipod is an excellent mp3 player. Eventhough I'm not the above guy, it can record with a mic, a remote can be added and mine gets around 11hrs/charge. No it dosen't play wma's but who cares, I don't use WMA anyway. The gapless kinda sucks but oh well.

Of course you will lose some quality, you always do when converting between formats. It's not that much and sounds pretty good.

The only thing that sucks about the above is that version of MMJB dosen't keep track numbers (as far as I can tell) so after converting to mp3, I have to load them in musicbrainz to tag them. Thats allright though as I can unprotect a whole lot of wma's and then do the rest later.

Oh man I love the PM's I get for posting something that is already on a few blogs and other sites.. please this isn't going to get it fixed any faster.. just allows more people to utilize it while it works

Unfortunately, the forums are well monitored. The Virgin Virtuosa loophole close was done within 48 hours of it being posted on the most closely monitored blog - kordix. The music industry uses some forums to have notice that there is a security gap, and then reverse engineer it based on the messages posted.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way around this without some sort of private forum, and even then how do you know who should get in. It's just as easy to have someone pretend to be friendly to the cause who actually works for one of these services.

I suppose letting the cat out of the bag is unavoidable, but we shouldn't taunt the cat either.

BTW, xfuzion asked me about track volume varying. A quick example is the recently posted Verve Mixed album touted on the home page of Napster et al. If you can view the waveforms, you'll see volume all over the place. The normalization method they are using isn't irritating when you stream or play the original .wma file. But convert it to something else, especially using a tool that attempts to playback the file and then record it and/or re-normalize it, and you'll discover distortion on several tracks because of oversaturated signal levels. It becomes an effort to have to analyze and adjust playback volume for different tracks to have a satisfactory result.

While this could be intentional on their part, I would more likely think that this is just poor engineering on their part, or perhaps even the album.

I have tried MM6.1 and Acoustica MP3 listed by Carotids Both seem to get caught up on certain protected wma to either mp3 or Wma (non-protected) conversion. Wondering if you all have found a fix or more consistant software...

hmm so get this right the varying volume will affect it only if you truely convert it but real time record ( if it plays fine / streams fine ) would work fine and I still use that over this method because I find it better quality and better tagging / less hassle using MuvAudio.

Thanks so much I will try this method...

Correction to Track number loss after conversion...use tag and rename software before conversion DRM --> unprotected media and will retain track numbers

When using this version of acoustica ( http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips858.html ) to convert your protected DRM files to MP3s, has anybody tried replacing the LAME files to speed up the process?

It's already much faster than real time; however, I think upgrading the lame encoder would speed it up even more.

Has anyone found a fix for the MM 6.1 problem where it stops converting and freezes after about 5% conversion? I don't feel like paying for Acoustica (or every other new program that is found to work) when I know it might only wor for a couple weeks. So, MM 6.1 seems like the best option, but it doesn't work for me...

Use iTunes to convert the music to AAC Audio Format, it removes the DRM.

If you try iTunes, it will convert to AAC Format; you burn it to a Audio CD, then RealPlayer will convert to MP3 format.

Worked for me . . .

Purchase the file from iTunes, burn it to a CD and then import it back into your library as an MP3.

This is for video:

You need this:

So, the word is that a popular internet magazine in Japan has posted information on how to crack the protected files. It appears that you still need a license for the content to start with, that's kind of a big thing. I'm sure there will be more information about this later.

The software has the file names of "DrmDbg.exe" and "DRM2WMV". DrmDbg.exe is supposed to get the KID and the Seed from memory when a DRM-enabled file is being decrypted/played. That spits out a .key file and DRM2WMV is supposed to take that .key and unprotect the WMV. This would leave you with a WMV file that is entirely unprotected and playable in anything that supports WMV playback.

While this may seem like it's great for fair-use and all, many content owners are upset with the matter. Microsoft has not commented on the issue publicly yet. It should also be noted that because of the architecture of WMRM this potential break does not mean that the tools will be valid to use in the future.

Just got a new program called Free My MP3. Easy to follow instruction showed me exactly how to remove DRM and how to unlock all my napster files. Showed me how to download whole CDs with just one click. Best deal going so far. Go to http://freemymp3.com

A DRM remover with an integrated P2P/leech/whatever, and commercial.

You really have to be naive to use it

Not to mention it's HIS program. Notice clicking the "PayPal Buy" link on the bottom of http://freemymp3.com/ brings you to a page that says you are going to "Pay To: homejobs123.com"

Visiting homejobs123.com shows affilate links to programs using the same screen name he used on this board. As example, Government Grants "http://dmor71.infogrants.hop.clickbank.net/"

Jeez man, couldn't you be smart enough to USE A DIFFERENT SCREEN NAME? Guess not.