IndieHQ / Article Detail

August 29th, 2006

Only a matter of time - FairUse4WM - a WM/DRM removal program

As reported by Digital Music News:

Windows cracks are nothing new, though a new PlaysForSure workaround is now grabbing attention. The tool, called FairUse4WM, circumvents protections that restrict usage outside of a WMA-based subscription payment plan. The hack, recently posted on the Doom9 Forum by “viodentia,” individually unwraps subscription-based protections, file-by-file. The author notes that the application is designed to allow unfettered use of purchased media, part of a fair use intent. The tool currently works only on Windows Media 10 and 11.

FairUse4WM is rather manual, and forces the user into a rather protracted decryption process. Regardless, early testers have pointed to an effective solution. “I have all updates and this thng UnDRMed my files flawlessly,” commented user “somnus”. Others have also given the workaround strong marks. “We tried FairUse4WM and we can verify that it quickly and easily stripped the DRM from our Napster To Go tracks, and made them freely available to play on our Mac,” commented Ryan Block of tech blog engadget. In terms of application development, a more broad-based, one-click decryption solution for larger batches of files could be next in the evolutionary chain, though Microsoft is probably working to shutter the latest release and prevent further revisions.

Doom9 Forum “FairUse4WM - a WM/DRM removal program”

Written by Virgil Dickerson