Comments on: What is the best (or any) Mac software to put protected WMAs on my iPod?

Question: What is the best (or any) Mac software to put protected WMAs on my iPod?

x41-pbj — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:48:26 -0800

What is the best (or any) Mac software to put protected WMA audiobooks, from my local library via NetLibrary, on my iPod?

I'm trying to put the free audiobooks that my library offers on my iPod, but can't find a Mac solution.

My library, like many many others, is using NetLibrary to offer audiobooks to its members, but for whatever reason, not only do NetLibrary's wma files not work on iPods, there is no way to access the site with a Mac -- I've tried Firefox, Safari, Camino, Flock and none of them have worked. Bleh!

So there is one previous AskMeFi thread on this topic -- posted here -- which offers the good suggestion of TuneBite on Windows, but I can't find anything comparable for Macs, or anything free for Windows (Tunebite is $25).

Any help is hugely appreciated. Libraries are supposed to be free, right? Right!

By: toxic

toxic — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:10:51 -0800

What you are asking is: "How do I circumvent Microsoft PlaysForSure DRM?" (which might get this question deleted).

There are free, windows-based tools that can do this for you, but the tools themselves are illegal under the US's DMCA (they're circumvention devices). so I can't link to them. If you go searching for something called Mirakagi, you'll be on the right track.

There is a good discussion over here.

By: finite

finite — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:22:02 -0800

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but, you seem to be asking how to break the law: you want to circumvent an access control device that has been created specifically to prevent you from doing what you want to do, which is to play the protected files on an unauthorized device (your Apple™ iPod™). If you'd like to play protected Microsoft™ WMA™ files on a portable audio player without breaking the law, you'll have to buy a portable music player that supports the WMA format. Of course, you won't be able to play files from iTunes that are protected with Apple's DRM on such a player.

There is almost certainly software available which can circumvent this DRM and convert these nasty files to mp3s or something else, but even just linking to the software that can do that would be a violation of US Code, Title 17, § 1201, aka the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. [IANALBIPOOM]

On preview: yeah, what toxic said.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:06:58 -0800

FWIW, what the user is asking is illegal in the USA (and even in the USA, the DMCA has been nibbled away around the corners through the courts). Not everywhere else. While it may be reasonable to assume the poster is in the USA, we can't be sure of that.

By: finite

finite — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:39:29 -0800

Good point adamrice; I'm sorry for the US-specificness of my comment.
Unfortunately though, as the anti-circumvention wikipedia article says, the requirement for anti-circumvention laws was globalised in 1996 with the creation of the WIPO Copyright Treaty, so a similar answer could also be given in regards to many other countries.