Simplest thing in the world -- stop worrying about converting or stripping the DRM....just install
faad and be done with it.
A friend I just switched over to Debian has about 1000 tunes locked up with Apple's DRM (AAC) format. All her files are
m4a and I don't know if this works for the other types, wmv, mp4, those files. I think that I had no trouble at all playing them on my Debian box in the past -- but I never bought tunes at iTunes and they were friend's files or something. The point is, they played.
I have installed on my box for multimedia:
ffmpeg (the one ring to rule them all)
w32codecs (oooh, non-free!)
faad
vlc
lame
audacious
mplayer
whatever Gstreamer dependencies went on with what i've got.
I think itunes is at version 7.x and I know hymn stopped working at version 5. There are a zillion appys out there that purport to "unlock" your DRM'd tunes on the Windows platform, but -- we're used to that kind of crap there.....everybody and their brother makes claims about their shitty shareware for the WIndows platform.
Anyway -- any of you get burned by itunes? Bought a shite-load or DRM'd tunes and you're stuck? Oh, I know that if you point VLC to your "key" (in your user profile on your Windows box) you can authorize those tunes (in a manner of speaking) -- but why go through all that? Faad. Do it now.
I suppose if you really wanted to convert one lossy format into another one (why, it's gonna sound like ass) the you can do this:
faad -o - pensive_pop_tune.m4a | lame - Worse_sounding_pensive_pop_tune.mp3
machiner@lapbox{~}: faad -o - 17\ How\ to\ Save\ a\ Life.m4a | lame - save_a_life.mp3
*********** Ahead Software MPEG-4 AAC Decoder V2.6 ******************
Build: Jan 20 2008
Copyright 2002-2004: Ahead Software AG
http://www.audiocoding.com
Floating point version
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
**************************************************************************
17 How to Save a Life.m4a file info:
LC AAC 239.280 secs, 2 ch, 44100 Hz
title: How to Save a Life
artist: The Fray
writer: King/Slade
album: Now, Vol. 24
genre: Pop
track: 17
date: 2007
compilation:
unknown:
tempo: 00000 BPM
tool: iTunes v7.6.2.9, QuickTime 7.4.5
iTunSMPB: 00000000 00000840 000003C0 0000000000A12000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
iTunNORM: 00001599 00001BF1 000066FD 00008D5A 00034780 0001A924 00008000 00008000 00005D87 00005D87
---------------------
| Config: 2 Ch |
---------------------
| Ch | Position |
---------------------
| 00 | Left front |
| 01 | Right front |
---------------------
LAME 3.97 32bits (http://www.mp3dev.org/)
CPU features: MMX (ASM used), 3DNow! (ASM used), SSE, SSE2
Using polyphase lowpass filter, transition band: 16538 Hz - 17071 Hz
Encoding to save_a_life.mp3
Encoding as 44.1 kHz 128 kbps j-stereo MPEG-1 Layer III (11x) qval=3
Decoding 17 How to Save a Life.m4a took: 2.43 sec. 98.47x real-time.
machiner@lapbox{~}:
Report back about m4p and any other Apple file types.
Rockin' -- I'm groovin' to shitty pop music. Some people just have no taste at all. I need to introduce my friends to Frank Zappa or something instead of all that pensive and whiney shit they listen to. Pffft.
