Music, Sound Effects, Tech News, and More — The AudioMicro Blog

The folks over at TorrentFreak have been reporting on a new trend in iPhone hacking that’s on track to gain significant attention in 2009. When the earth-shattering mobile phone hit the shelves nearly two years ago, the process of jailbreaking was one of the only widely renowned ways techies and hackers alike could play around with Apple’s not-so-transparent technology. Now Crackulous, a piece of code that removes copy protection in applications, has been made available to the public.

The term “hacking” bears negative connotations to those that don’t understand technology, and the developers of Crackulous have a highly proletarian view on the whole issue. Quite simply, using Crackulous would allow users to share applications they’ve downloaded through Apple, all while contributing to new software developments via open source coding. This would lead to various advancements in the scheme of using the iPhone to its full potential.

Although code junkies were only recently given the opportunity to experiment with Crackulous, software developers concerned about the success of their IP have since become hot on their trail. Ripdev, the newest threat to software pirates, is the latest application of anti-DRM testing systems that has already undergone Apple’s software approval process. TorrentFreak quotes the Ripdev representatives, noting that “the Kali system is a server-side service which can take any App Store application and place it inside another protection wrapper which, Ripdev claims, will prevent it from being pirated.” While the technical side of the issue is sure to be far more complicated, the Ripdev team is essentially challenging hackers to break through an extra barrier of protection, all for a 1%-%5 cut of developer’s revenue depending on price. While this is nothing new to the code-crackers of the tech world, it is among the first steps towards the oft-told battle of software copyright protection in the digital age.

Posted in: Apple, DRM, piracy, software

PC World is reporting that subscription-based DRM-free music provider Ruckus is closing their doors. In the wake of a recent trend in digital music where providers offer a blanket deal for universities to download non-DRM material, Ruckus just couldn’t seem to get its act together in terms of technology and compatibility.

Ruckus was owned by TotalMusic, a niche licensing division of Sony/Universal BMG. At $15 per semester, students would have access to DRM-free digital music without having to worry about the RIAA monitoring easily targeted IP addresses.  However, students soon came to reject Ruckus due to its usability and compatibility issues with both software and external hardware. For one, the service was programmed to work solely with Windows-based machines, largely disenfranchising the arguable majority of students who use Macintosh machines.

VP of Product Management at TotalMusic Jason Herskowitz speculated that venture capitalists are becoming more and more eager to throw money at digital music world once the right formula is cracked and every party is satisfied. Ad-supported services like Ruckus, Pandora, or music social network sites like imeem are touching upon said technologies, yet it would appear that no one has yet to figure out how to ultimately appease the end-user. As the digital landscape transforms in tangent with the economy, it’ll be interesting to see just how users, producers, and licensing parties adapt to the changes occurring with the music industry.

Posted in: DRM, Ruckus, TotalMusic