AfterDawn: News

'DVD Jon' has the 'The Cure for iPhone Envy'

Jon Lech Johansen, known notoriously as “DVD Jon” for his work in cracking the CSS encryption on DVDs, has this week put up an advertisement that directly mocks Apple.

The ad campaign, placed conveniently across from an Apple store in San Francisco, promises that Johansen's doubleTwist software is “The Cure for iPhone Envy.”



Additionally, the ad says “Your iTunes library on any device in seconds.” The ad is 15-feet wide.

“We’re trying to convey you don’t need to get an iPhone to have a great media experience,” Johansen adds. DoubleTwist has just gone beta for Windows and has been available for Macs for a few months.

doubleTwist allows users to share all their music, video and pictures easily and more efficiently with all their media devices. As the about page reads: "Our vision is simple: to create a unifying media platform that connects consumers with all their media and all their devices, regardless of whether they are online or offline."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Jun 2009 23:20

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• 7 comments

• Mez

  Jon Lech, I hope you have a great lawyer!

  15.6.2009 07:28 #1

• Ryoohki

  A lawyer wouldn't need to be all that great. He has been sued before and has not yet lost. He hasn't done anything illegal. He merely makes software for people to better utilize content they have legally purchased. I have always admired him. You should be free to use content you have purchased on the device of your choosing.

  15.6.2009 07:42 #2

• Serialluv

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: A lawyer wouldn't need to be all that great. He has been sued before and has not yet lost. He hasn't done anything illegal. He merely makes software for people to better utilize content they have legally purchased. I have always admired him. You should be free to use content you have purchased on the device of your choosing.Admiration yes, but if Apple have even a sniff of patent infringement they'll sic the whole team on him and he won't win that one. He got away with CSS decryption by way of fair usage, you can't claim the same for this. It opens up a whole new ball game though as it could lead to antitrust suits against Apple as they do have a monopoly in the MP3 player market. Watch this space.....

  15.6.2009 13:49 #3

• Serialluv

  OK and after d/l this and looking at it, it's been designed from the ground up to not only look like iTunes but work like it as well, not had a chnace to try it on my multiple devices yet (HTC TYTN II, iPod Touch and PSP) but looking forward to it.
  
  get it now before Apple ban it!!!

  15.6.2009 14:17 #4

• etkasoe

  dvdjon at it again, glad to see he's back in action

  16.6.2009 07:09 #5

• atomicxl

  What's the point of this? If you don't like iTunes... don't use iTunes!!!
  
  There are tons of media players (Winamp, Windows Media Player, Real Player, the Zune Software) that are just as easy to use and take up less resources. It's not like iTunes is the only place to buy music online. With their DRM-riddled files (everyone seems to hate DRM unless it's from Apple... then it's the most awesomest coolest thing in the world), they're not even the best place to buy music.
  
  If you still use Apple despite that, you're clearly a fan of their products and services so I doubt you'd really want to switch that badly.

  17.6.2009 11:48 #6

• Mez

  I don't think all of you are getting it. It sounds like to be you will copy your itunes library to unsupported devices.
  
  So, this would be of interest to anyone that has a device with no software or very poor software like a Chipod. It might be of interest for the unlikely case where a Zune owner really wants to use itunes instead of the Zune software.
  
  Lastly, Apple never had a monopoly on mp3 players. Although they still hold the lion's share of market share that is eroding 5-10% a year. Over priced inferior hardware and their obsession with security with your player is hurting their sales. Very few persons are replacing ipods that died in less than 2 years service with another ipod.
  
  DVD Jon's new device might double the rate of erosion. Apple can not let this live.

  17.6.2009 12:46 #7