OT: .mp4 unlocking software

L8R wrote on 1/14/2009, 8:21 AM
does anybody know any free unlimited software to unlock protected .mp4's.

These are .mp4's that were purchased by a former friend and myself from ITunes years back. The complete U2 collection. We went halves with it and have since used up our limited unlocks from ITunes. I no longer am in touch with him.

I want to use some of the songs but can't unless they are unlocked and I'm not paying $150 dollars again to get new unlocks for something I already bought.

Comments

earthrisers wrote on 1/14/2009, 8:26 AM
This isn't a good forum for asking for help with illegal maneuvers.
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2009, 8:31 AM
Using iTunes to make CDs is legal, then you can soak those up as DRM-free, as far as I can tell without violating anything.

Apple has gone nearly 100% DRM-free (just a few holdouts left), and they even offer an option to upgrade your old iTunes DRM purchase to DRM-free (but it's clunky for the moment, something that may change soon).

L8R wrote on 1/14/2009, 9:05 AM
oh yeah, I'm not trying to do anything illegal here. I just don't like having 450 songs that I paid for sitting there locked. The problem being that they were downloaded under my friend's (at the time) account. So there isn't record of me dowloading them.
I don't talk to these person anymore and I'm out all these songs.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/14/2009, 9:36 AM
downside of digital purchases rears it's ugly head yet again. :)

there's a few ways to do it but they're all a pain to do.
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2009, 9:51 AM
It looks like we can thank Amazon for putting additional heavy pressure on the music publishers to allow DRM-free sales, after Apple failed to persuade them on its own.

Last year it was Microsoft saying to customers of an older format DRM that they were closing down the reauthorization site, so nobody could move their bought tracks any more.

An uproar soon changed their minds, and the DRM industry is now focusing on the software industry instead.
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2009, 9:53 AM
there's a few ways to do it but they're all a pain to do.

Are there more ways than the two I mentioned above?

I also have some old tracks that I wouldn't mind liberating.


TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/14/2009, 11:09 AM
I do this for EVERY DRM track I buy via napster:

setup the sound output on my comp to allow stereo out, setup vegas to record. I setup a playlist if it's multiple songs, how "record" in vegas (audio) and play in the player (normally napster).

Walk away. Then, when done, name regions, use script to make mp3's of regions with region name (my mp3 player doesn't do ogg, so I use mp3).

this works with anything but it a pain in my butt!
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2009, 11:39 AM
That's a lot more work than either of the two methods I suggested, although I think only iTunes is generous enough to allow CD burning (and it then automatically pulls the album name, all the track names, and of course also the artist's name and the other meta data).

And having iTunes remove the DRM for a fee is nearly effortless, but they made it a bit clunky (which may change soon).

JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/14/2009, 11:42 AM
> We went halves with it and have since used up our limited unlocks from ITunes

My understanding of the way iTunes works is that you get 5 computers that you can authorize to play the files. At any time you can deauthorize one computer and authorize another. If you format all 5 computers and loose everything there is still an option in iTunes to deauthorize all computers associated with your account. As far as I can see, it is impossible to use up your unlocks.

I would ask your friend to kindly burn the songs to CD's and give them to you so that you have them (and can rip them to MP3) or return your half of the money.

Like some have already said, every purchase I make from iTunes gets burned to CD and ripped back to a DRM-free MP3's. All totally legal and all done within the iTunes software itself.

~jr