Silent Protest
Were you looking for the original “Breaking the Law” post with comments?
Originally posted on February 17th, 2005
I’m gonna preface this by saying that I love Apple and their products and I hate the RIAA and their shortsightedness. My only complaint with Apple is the restrictive DRM built into iTunes Music Store songs (also, those new G5s could be a little cheaper).
In protest, I’ve committed a real crime and documented the entire process. But it shouldn’t be that way and that’s why I’ve done it. Come and get me, Apple! Come and get me, RIAA!
It all started with a free song code from the Pepsi iTunes promotion. I tilted several Pepsi bottles at the local Ralphs (just look for random letters under the cap), found me a winner and scored a free song.
You may not know this, but there are several tracks that you can buy from the iTunes Music Store that consist of nothing more than total silence.
Here’s one from Ciccone Youth (a Sonic Youth side project):
So I bought it.
Then, I wanted to play this song on another device other than my iPod (I own a Creative MuVo TX MP3 Player). No go. The Digital Rights Management (DRM) makes it impossible to transfer the song to my other MP3 player unless I go through some ridiculous steps which involve burning the purchased song to a CD and then ripping it. This causes a noticeable loss of sound quality due to the song being recompressed. Totally unacceptable. I want pure silence.
So I stripped the DRM using JHymn, a cross-platform application that unlocks your DRM’ed songs and keeps the original’s sound quality. This is absolutely, positively illegal according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
One law broken, one to go.
One file is legal, the other one is definitely not. Can you spot the one that’ll get me in trouble? I’ll give you a hint: it’s the one without the little lock over its icon.
There’s just one law left to break. I’m offering this very file for download here on my website. So go ahead, download it (1.1 MB) and break the law with me. Right click, save as, and crank it up on your favorite portable electronic music player.
If this little stunt gets me in trouble, you’ll be the first to know.
You can help stop the RIAA and their nonsense at Downhill Battle.
Find out more about protecting your digital rights online at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s website.
Silence is golden. Get involved.
{ 7 trackbacks }
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m downloading this, if you do get in trouble, then it will be a little reminder to me, of how money hungry people can get
Right clicked and downloaded. My speakers are cranked to the max so that I can enjoy pure illegal bliss. Cheers!
Finally, a song I can listen to on my speakerless work computer.
finally Apple gave in. iTunes is now being converted to DRM free songs!
You can break another law. You unlocked the protected file, you shared this file, now you can broadcast the “Silence” without permission!
I want get out OUR side of the RIAA shitwalk: iTunes forces Latin America into piracy. We can’t even buy a stupid song! Every credit card and Paypal account that’s addressed in other countries can’t get Apple’s approval to buy the latest Coldplay single. All we get is a half-assed Appstore. And if you try to fool the system by changing the nationality of your account it boots you good. I tried this myself. Data should be for the people by the people. The Internet is WORLDWIDE. Not just USA and Europe. UNDERSTAND THAT RIAA AND APPLE.
hahahahah
YES.
Yeah, silence good. RIAA bad.
I like this song. Sounds quiet and peaceful. Not like RIAA.
I downloaded it to.
I enjoy braking laws that are made up by Money makers.
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