Microsoft vs Viodentia

It’s Goliath vs Samson – and Samson is winning.

If you’ve read any of my recent books, you know how to avoid Microsoft’s “Plays For Sure” copy restrictions. The only music that “Plays for Sure” are plain, old, everyday MP3 files, which you can rip from your own music CDs, or buy or download from various not-quite-legal locations.

If you go to a “Plays For Sure” web site like Rhapsody or Napster and you pay for music that “Plays For Sure” the only thing you can be absolutely sure of is that the music you buy won’t play for sure on an iPod, on Microsoft’s new Zune music players, on your other computers (give or take a waffle or two), on your CD player, or just about anywhere else. “Plays For Sure” is a marketing ploy, designed to separate you from your money, and lock you into obsolete Microsoft-only technology – Microsoft at its most cynical.

A very bright guy who goes by the name “Viodentia” hacked Microsoft’s Plays For Sure technology, basically unlocking music that you bought or rented, removing Microsoft’s restrictions. Viodentia’s first cracking program, which he called FairUse4WM, drew a lot of attention in Redmond. Microsoft posted a forced-download fix about a week after FairUse4WM appeared – record time for the prince of patchers.

Viodentia responded with a second crack, FairUse4WM 1.2, which bypassed the patch. Engadget posted a great, short interview with Viodentia that explains his (her?) point of view.

Microsoft responded by trying to sue Viodentia, on September 22, a fairly complex process that starts by forcing Google and Yahoo to divulge information about email accounts that may or may not be ones Viodentia used. Microsoft released another update to its software on September 23.

Viodentia’s response? Let ’em eat cake. On September 27, he released FairUse4WM 1.3, an all-new and improved version that cracks “Plays for Sure” again.

It’s important to note that FairUse4WM only unlocks keys on music that you’ve already bought or rented. It doesn’t work on music files that someone else has downloaded. It doesn’t crack any other locked file format. But if you got suckered into “Plays For Sure” you might want to look for the program. It isn’t easy to find – apparently Microsoft is being very vigilant in tracking down web sites where it’s available – but you can get it if you’re persistent. Oh, and if it’s legal to download and run such a program where you live. Wouldn’t want you to violate any anti-freedom-of-speech legislation.

Engadget posted a news item about the gutsy webmaster at BG4G.net who has FairUse4WM version 1.2 available in his download area. I haven’t seen version 1.3 there yet. Patience, grasshopper.