I went to check the home-page of the Protected Music Converter that pumpkin king advertised here...
Looks like a sad attempt of a home page and the software itself did not impress me at all. So it's still no competition for Tunebite

general question -

why is removing drm from a .wma file so difficult?...isn't the data for the music still in the file?...is every music data block encoded?...if M$ wmp can play files that don't have drm, why can't I just create a version of the .wma file that looks like it doesn't have drm?

Yes it's encrypted. And to answer your question why it isn't so simple to create a program to decode it and save it as a different file, well that's been done before. The creators of such software run the risk of loosing their license with Microsoft though (for any updates to DRM). So all software companies stopped offering the decoding option (well over a year ago now).






I'm back...

Wow what a lot of crap self-promotion of products going on here. WMAConvert is crap do not use. NoteBurner is crap do not use. The real "freeware" version (which involves NO re-encoding) is below.


FairUse4WM works like a charm again with my latest WM11 version (11.0.5721.5230). I'm told it works with even later versions of WM11 on Vista, etc.

Download the latest update here (3 mirros posted below, you only need to download from one link):
mirror 1
mirror 2
mirror 3

The trick is to run the program "mirakagi.exe" first to find your keys. Then run "FairUse4Wm.exe" (which is FairUse4WM v1.3 Fix 2) to decrypt your wma files.

Good luck everyone!

This isn't free but I have been happy with it

SoundTaxi

Hi,

I think I might have a slightly different problem to most of you guys. I have 3 or 4 albums that are WMA's and are protected and I'm struggling to unprotect them.

The main problem is that I can't even play them, no matter what player I use.

So has anyone got any ideas where I could go from here?

Thanks.

Regards,

Andrew

Tell us what players you use (Windows Media Player, Itunes, Rhapsody, etc.). Also, where did you get the albums from?

I used to use WMP11 to play the odd song but I've recently purchased an iPod so I'm now using iTunes 7.2

I've spent the last week painstakingly organizing and labelling my music before putting it on my iPod but I've got 3 or 4 albums by the same artist which are protected and they won't even play.

To answer your question where they came from, I honestly don't know is the answer. Probably from a mate or my brother but that's just a guess. I won't be able to get hold of the CD's (if they even came from CD's!) if that's the angle you're coming from.


So... any ideas?

Just forget it. These files are protected to avoid giving them to someone else. This is DRM...

Michael

Ah ok.

Thanks for the sound advice. You've probably saved me hours of time wasting!

My school has the Ruckus program and I've been trying to crack the songs from it to put them on my Ipod. I've tried quite a few ways Including FairUse and WinAmp. FairUse won't work for the songs from Ruckus. As far as WinAmp goes It will play the songs but for some reason won't copy them. I've gone over it a few times and am sure I have everything right, so that leaves me with the only explination that I need PRO and not Basic to do it. Is that correct or am I missing something.

Tricky isn´t it, but there are solutions for those who own the songs.

I installed WMP 11 Beta 2 on my Desktop computer because I was thinking of subscribing to URGE at a cheaper price than Rhapsody.
I was successful but now I find that URGE is merging with Rhapsody.
Fairuse works fine with WMP 11 Beta 2 on my Desktop computer.
I am reluctant to go back to WMP 10 because of the problem on my laptop.

I went from WMP 9 to final WMP 11 on my laptop only to find that Fairuse wouldn't work on the latest version of WMP11.

I followed the procedure posted on Xarus for rolling back from WMP 11 and Windows said I was successful. I went through the registry and removed every reference to Windows Media Player and WMP.
When I tried to install WMP 10 or WMP 11 Beta 2, it told me that I couldn't because I had a newer version of WMP 11 already running.

Has anyone else had this problem. Is there really anyway to get rid of WMP 11 final once it is installed?
It is merely academic because I am reformatting my laptop and will install WMP 10 on it.

TIA
capted

Well, it looks like I will answer my own post.
I was prepared to re-format my laptop but at the last minute decided to try the option to repair windows.
This took me back to SP1 but I kept all my programs and files.
I ended up with WMP 8.
I then updated windows and installed WMP which I got from one of the Microsoft sites.
I now have fairuse4wm working on my laptop once again.

capted

hey capted, long time no see

Seems like those functions Windows has work for you, but for some unfortunate guys(like me) repair and system restore brought nothing good . Always using format/re-install procedure in such major cases.

Anyway, thanks on the Rhapsody walkthrough, cause I was meaning to check the program

Back at you, Hansy,

I'm beginning to think that no matter what previous version of Rhapsody you try to install, they will catch it and make you download the new IBX file.
Someone here should be able to figure a work around.
I tried unplugging my internet connection and it won't let me proceed.
I'm not sure how much longer Rhapsody will let you run the earlier versions before they required for you to download the new IBX file.
I'm glad I had the software installed on two different computers.
It saved me.

capted

Rhapsody follows the pattern of the DRM developers, permanent updates so that softwares that actually crack/remove the protection will not work for an extended period of time.
That's the case with fairuse4wm...That's why I kept my Tunebite updated all the time, cause it's process doesn't fail in such cases.
Anyway, if Apple keeps it's statements to release unprotected files, maybe some other companies will follow their example and we will live in an unprotected universe...or not

First off I'd like to start off by saying great thread. Very informative.
It's why I love these forums and what finally convinced me to sign up and start contributing myself.

Though it's almost too informative. Almost.
Though I've read through all 86 pages of this subject, I'm a bit confused , especially coming into the development of this thread a bit late. Between the links that were posted early in the thread and then later were determined to be not in working order.
I was just hoping someone could give me a, for lack of a better word, summary on this thread and how to crack protected WMA files in general. If anyone would be so kind I would be very thankful . I've already tried many of the methods mentioned earlier as far as programs go and, as I said, came across dead links. So thank you much in advance - and here's a bow too!

Just to make one thing clear, we are not talking about cracking the DRM protection, that is highly illegal. We are talking about ways to go around it

And regarding what method is the best, that is a matter of personal choice. But I'd say, and I'm sure a lot of people will confirm that, Tunebite is the best choice at the moment to solve your audio/video files problems

Now don't forget about MuvAudio, when it comes to converting your audio files. I've used both, and for me, MuvAudio is my favorite. To each their own.

Hansy, I guess I'm not one of those people.

I must confess that after trawling through (most of) the 86 pages on this subject, I am now more confused than when I started!
Basically all I wanted was to take out the music from several videos and play them on a separates system. I think I've given up all thoughts of this now.

So it seems renzska, you are not one of us Tunebiete fans :P

Froggie, here you have a simple walkthrough.

1. take the videos from which you want the soundtrack
2. drag them in the Tunebite playlist
3. check the button audio only that is right on the middle of Tunebite
4. click GO

and so you get those files as you wanted them

Hi everyone, first post here.
I just paid for Tunebite tonight. For some reason I just assumed it would work with Rhapsody.
It's not working right for me. Tunebite will play the Rhapsody files, but after it converts them, the files are very small 0 to 40k. It looks like the album art is there for some of the files, that's why the 40k.

Basic question - Does Tunebite currently work with Rhapsody 4.0?

Thanks

Where can I download mirakagi.exe ?