Hymn Receives Cease & Desist Notice from Apple

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If you’ve ever used the myFairTunes or QTFairTunes programs to strip DRM from Apple’s FairPlay or Windows Media encoding, then you’re probably familiar with the Hymn Project. Last week, they received a cease and desist letter demanding that all download links be removed from the site. From their forum:

Until further notice, no links are to be posted anywhere on the site to programs that can strip DRM from any of Apple’s music or videos. Any user who does so will get the link removed and a warning from us. Any further infraction will get you banned permanently. The site will remain open for now and we won’t have a problem as long as we abide by the C&D.

The DRM-removal tools were used by many people on iTunes track to listen to those songs on unsupported players, mobile phones, and other non-Apple devices. One of the site’s administrators speculates that the reason Apple made this move after so much time was possibly related to Requiem, a new program in development, that utilizes file decryption rather of than re-recording music from memory while it is being played (see DoubleTwist).

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

5 thoughts on “Hymn Receives Cease & Desist Notice from Apple”

  1. Myfairtunes was an app I used a lot. No I’m not a pirate, but it was a way for me to get the songs we purchased from iTunes (yes purchased) to my daughters non-apple music player. Here’s hoping the non-drm movement continues and iTunes moves towards all non-drm music.

  2. In the old days (iTunes 4 or 5), I used Jhymn to remove DRM from my iTunes for maximum portability and future-proofing. I don’t know how things work these days, but back then even though the DRM was stripped, I believe the personally identifying info was not… making piracy a boneheaded move.

    On a personal note, I’m done with DRM-ed audio. I’ve run into two issues lately that finally pushed me over the edge. Hopefully, I’ll find the time to blog it.

  3. It is a bit odd that Apple waited until now to do something about it. Especially when they are trying to push DRM free music. My guess is they are trying to protect their patents on the DRM since the new program seemed to go after the encryption itself instead of using iTunes to remove the DRM. I’m guessing they are going to start licensing the DRM in the future and they are trying to stop any issues before they arise (even though it is all futile).

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