AfterDawn: News

Napster denies its music has been hacked

Napster has officially denied rumours that its music has been hacked. A posting on Engadget.com detailed how a user could get music from the Napster To Go service and convert the protected WMV files to WAV files which can then be burned to CD. The Napster to go service allows you to download all the music you want for $15 a month but does not allow you to burn the music to CD, because if you stop paying the subscription fee, you will lose all your downloaded music.

"It has come to our attention that there are a number of inaccurate statements posted by various sources on the Internet regarding the security of Napster and Napster To Go," Bill Pence, Napster's chief technology officer, said in the statement released Wednesday. "As Napster's CTO, I would like to officially state that neither Napster To Go, Napster, nor Windows Media DRM have been hacked."



According to the Engadget post, a user could install Winamp and the Output Stacker plug-in, which they could then use to record the DRM protected files to unprotected digital WAV streams. While this method does in fact work, it doesn't mean that there was any cracking in the process. This is similar to recording a song from the radio to a cassette tape. Napster claims that this hole doesn’t just exist in Napsters music, but in all music from all digital music stores currently.

Source:
Yahoo

Written by: James Delahunty @ 18 Feb 2005 3:44

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• 23 comments

• daemonzx6

  I don't know if this is just one incident, but I have been able to use an old converting program to convert these wierd mps that showed up as "protected wmas" in every other program. The program was "AudioConvert" I dont remember the version number off hand.

  18.2.2005 09:25 #1

• Mik3h

  What's Stopping People From Using an MP3 Player which records from an audio output using a line-in wire, save it to an MP3 then hooking it up to the PC then burn it to disc from the MP3 Player?

  18.2.2005 11:45 #2

• diabolos

  People are silly. I have been able to and have shown people how to record from thier mediaplayer (software) or any extenal device using Jet Audio Basic since I was a newbie at AfterDawn. There is nothing stopping people from doing this with anything that can be played through your PCs sound-card. The only thing that can't be copied this way is DVD-Audio since it has an Analog Audio "Watermark" throughout the signal.
  
  Ced

  18.2.2005 12:04 #3

• wheelman7

  It would be easy to keep the music for life, a little more of a hassle, but all you have to have is Creative software and you can record exactly what is comming out of your speekers as either wav, mp3 or wma. Then wa-la, you have a copy that is unprotected and won't dissapear.

  18.2.2005 12:06 #4

• neilm247

  In my experience when i recorded from my comp using an MD and tried to put it back in, the sound wasn't great, the time it took was too long and it was messy(exact track mark start&stop).That is why converting makes more sense to me!

  19.2.2005 01:42 #5

• diabolos

  That is the point neilm247, when converting isn't an option you still can do it by recording to your hard drive through your sound card. Also, you must have a decent sound card since the sound card is the thing doing all the work (wether its a MD player or a Softare media-player).

  19.2.2005 06:01 #6

• diabolos

  That is the point neilm247, when converting isn't an option you still can do it by recording to your hard drive through your sound card. Also, you must have a decent sound card since the sound card is the thing doing all the work (wether its a MD player or a Softare media-player).

  19.2.2005 06:02 #7

• jat4994

  Hi diabolos, would you please tell me how to get jet
  audio basic. And also do you or anybody else have a
  guide on how to burn napster mp3's to cd.One more thing I am looking to buy a mp3 player and would like
  to know which one to buy, I might buy the iriver H10
  or the H320 which one would you recomend. any help
  would be greatly appreciated

  19.2.2005 08:44 #8

• wheelman7

  Well I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card and when I re-record audio I can't tell the difference in quality from that or just a straight audio conversion.
  
  But there will always be a way for people to keep the music no matter how hard they try to constric it's use... They have to have realized that by now.

  20.2.2005 12:44 #9

• snowman11

  Hi diabolos,
  Could you re-post that ideea with Jet Audio Basic and using the audio card to record the songs, please?
  I have a bunch of songs I bought on-line which are WMA formated and protected by licence. Unfortunatelly my portable device does not have licence management feature therefore I cannot play the songs on the device. I probably have to convert them to WAV and then back to MP3 format. Do you have any better suggestion or good tools to do that?
  Thanks for your time and help.

  20.2.2005 18:12 #10

• punx777

  It has come to our attention that there are a number of inaccurate statements posted by various sources on the Internet regarding the security of Napster and Napster To Go. As Napster's CTO, I would like to officially state that neither Napster To Go, Napster, nor Windows Media DRM have been hacked. In the interest of providing the most accurate information to consumers, the following is some background on the subject.
  
  There is a program that allows a user to record the playback of tracks directly from the computer's sound card. This process can be likened to the way people used to record songs from the radio onto cassette tapes, but instead of capturing the music on a tape, the file is converted into a new, unprotected digital format. This program does not break the encryption of the files, which can only be recorded one at a time making the process quite laborious. It would take 10 hours to convert 10 hours of music in this manner. It is important to note that this program is not specific to Napster; files from all legal subscription and pay-per-download services can be copied in this way.
  
  We hope that the information provided above clarifies the matter and puts questions regarding the security of Napster and Napster To Go to rest. Napster's mission is to provide consumers with a legal environment in which they can experience and discover the world's largest collection of digital music. We believe that artists should be compensated for their work and intellectual property rights should be respected. While we acknowledge there are always going to be those who do not share our belief, we remain committed to providing the most enjoyable and flexible digital music experience for those who do
  
  
  he doesn't act like they are going to try and stop this. WHAT THE HELL IS A CTO? 10 hours for 10 hours of music sounds great to me! i do wish someone would develop some sort of converter that eliminates drm... but o well :) he actually sounds more worried about people thinking that napster is unsafe rather then worry about the fact that people are getting FREE tunes..
  
  the only thing is, if you want to put it back on your mp3 player, you have to convert it back to mp3 or wma, (i dont think many or any mp3 players support wav.) and when you do that you get totally wierd filenames.

  20.2.2005 18:36 #11

• punx777

  and jat..... iriver is definitly a high quality brand...... me personally, not having much moolah, i would go with a creative, i hear it has pretty great batt. life. just never buy an ipod, or i will not respect you lol.
  
  
  
  VIVA LA PC
  
  someone needs to use photo shop and make me an anti-apple pic. i will love you forever!

  20.2.2005 18:39 #12

• Solitude

  Quote:"program does not break the encryption of the files, -- * "
  
  Yeah. Of course the encryption isn't hacked/cracked you just dont have to care about it! Why use millions of dollars to create such an encryption that can easily be bypassed with a known regular program?
  
  Quote:" - - * which can only be recorded one at a time making the process quite laborious"
  
  Yeah very laborous indeed.. why wouldn't people do this while they listen the album off for the first time? After that the copying process sure is "laborous" - well how many copies can new computers make in a minute? One rips and sends it to p2p network and other copy it off without the protection... again theres no use for the encyption on the original piece of music.
  
  Why wouldn't they use the same money on making the music cheaper instead of useless encryptions! Soon the music will cost about the same in the net as it cost on normal shops and you'll be forced to just hope that your playa can play it because of the multiple encryptions...

  21.2.2005 00:21 #13

• belowline

  Total Recorder works great for this. Check it out at www.highcriteria.com

  21.2.2005 07:36 #14

• nanu-nanu

  It seems apparent that the Original Napster never died.
  
  Yes, Napster To Go, is more concerned about controlling the misguided about how one can get free music from them. But it should also be apparent that the "free music" of Napster is still thriving.
  
  As some have noted Itunes makes you pay for the whole song first, and Napster gives you unlimited access with full songs and has little concern that one would record off their sound card. I have done the same to Real Rapsody, Internet Radio stations.
  
  You dont even need Winamp for this, Audacity a freeware woudl do the same. All you need is to set up the recorder properly.

  21.2.2005 12:38 #15

• punx777

  apparently napster blocked these files from being opend using winamp.... i am using the free trial and i would like a way to put them on my mp3 player( which doesnt support drm) of course i will delete the songs afterwards, but i need to put them on my mp3 player..
  
  is there something that will retain the names so i dont have to type them in?

  26.2.2005 20:30 #16

• manbone

  I have Audacity but i do not know how to record mp3s using it or my soundcard. i have a Soundblaster Audigy 2 soundcard. I just want to record mp3s to keep on my computer. How would i do that with Audacity?
  
  THanx in advance
  (btw this is the first time i have ever left a message in a forum so i hope this works)

  28.2.2005 10:07 #17

• angelXL

  Just found a new program that converts Napster DRM files into sweet clean MP3/WMA files.
  
  Its called Virtuosa.. I am testing it right now and its working 100% fine with no loss of sound quality at all.
  
  Email me @ angelusxl@gmail.com if you require any help or info on this topic.

  11.3.2005 04:50 #18

• djcsurf

  @ angelXL BEWARE THE SPAM
  
  Forum rules:
  
  10. Don't post your email address to the forums! Spambots love dumb forum users who post their email addresses to public sites and grab those addresses and you will soon discover the wonders of penis enlargement kits and other really useful products posted daily to your inbox.
  
  
  

  
  Windows XP Pro SP-1 / Barton XP2500+ @3200GHz / Twinmos Twister DDR 433MHz / Abit NF7-S v2.0 / WD 120Gb Sata

  11.3.2005 05:17 #19

• tmfloria

  My Virtuosa has been telling me as of late that the files I'm trying to convert can't be converted cause they are protected.. Has anyone else ran into a problem with Virtuosa Recently?

  12.3.2005 20:53 #20

• angelXL

  Im just wondering if its something Napster puts into trial members mp3's when you download them?? I know it works for me but I subscribe to napster pay monthly though??

  13.3.2005 02:08 #21

• angelXL

  My Virtuosa has stopped working now!
  Ah crap!!
  
  Anyone else having the same problem?
  You try and convert a song and it just freezes at 0%

  20.3.2005 15:05 #22

• tmfloria

  I think it's something Napster is doing because I can't get the WMA's to play in Winamp now either..

  20.3.2005 15:08 #23