This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ortzinator (talk | contribs) at 04:26, 9 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 04:26, 9 January 2007 by Ortzinator (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Original author(s) | Jon Lech Johansen |
|---|---|
| Initial release | November 2003 |
| Stable release | 2.5 / November 11, 2006 |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Audio |
| License | Free / open source |
| Website | hymn-project.org |
QTFairUse is a free / open source program for Microsoft Windows first released in November 2003 by Jon Lech Johansen. The program dumps the raw output of a QuickTime AAC audio stream to a file, which could bypass Apple Computers' DRM (Digital Rights Management) scheme known as FairPlay, which is used to encrypt content sold at Apple's iTunes Music Store. Once installed on a computer running Windows, QTFairUse saves the intermediate decrypted result produced by QuickTime whenever QuickTime plays a protected AAC file. Although these raw AAC files were unplayable in their final form by most media players at the time of release, they represented the first attempt at circumventing Apple's encryption. One of the few media players able to play those raw AAC files was foobar2000; however, today the files can be converted to any audio format.
When iTunes 6 was released, it contained updated DRM that could initially not be bypassed by programs like QTFairUse and hymn. However, QTFairUse was updated within a day of the release of iTunes 6 to remove the newer version of the DRM. Apple then introduced iTunes 7.0 in September 2006, which once again included changes intended to stop programs like JHymn. However, only a few days after its release, the experimental version 2.3 of QTFairUse6, an open source QTFairUse derivative written in Python, was released which, once again bypassed Apple's protection scheme. Once Apple released iTunes' 7.0.2 upgrade, QTFairUse was again unable to decrypt song files purchased with the latest version of iTunes, but the upgraded QTFairUse6 version 2.5 can decrypt iTunes 7.0.2 files.
External links
- iTunes copy protection 'cracked' - BBC News Website (posted 25th October 2006)
- DVD Jon unlocks iTunes' locked music - Andrew Orlowski writing for TheRegister (posted 22 November 2003)
- QTFairUse6 article at engadget.com