“America Online yesterday removed from the Web site of its Winamp media player a software plug-in that is reportedly being used to make unauthorized copies of tunes from the Napster To Go subscription service,” John P. Mello Jr. reports for TechNewsWorld. “According to AOL spokesperson Ann Burkart, the offending applet, Output Stacker, has been taken down from the Winamp site. ‘We are also working with Microsoft to ensure Winamp continues to provide secure playback of Windows Media content,’ she told TechNewsWorld.”
“The mischievous potential of the Winamp plug-in came to light after several Web sites, such as BoingBoing and Engadget, posted how-to’s on using the program to capture online audio from a computer’s sound card, a process known as ‘stream ripping,'” Mello Jr. reports. “‘As long as we listen to music through our ears and watch video through our eyes, there’s going to be a way to get around any security scheme,’ Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst for the Enderle Group in San Jose, California, told TechNewsWorld. ‘All you have to do is convert it to analog feed.'”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Napster feels the heat over flawed copy-protection scheme – February 17, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs warns record industry of Napster To Go’s security gap – February 16, 2005
Users thwart Napster To Go’s copy protection; do the music labels realize the piracy potential? – February 15, 2005
Napster-To-Go’s ‘rental music’ DRM circumvented – February 14, 2005
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘it’s stupid to buy an iPod’ – February 10, 2005
10 points to MCCFR for the use of ‘pastiche’.
Stay tuned for details on the Sputnik revival petition.
Not on-topic, but I am replying to the above emails (and earlier story and thread) regarding the Safari/Firefox pop-up issue. I’ve been running Firefox exclusively for some time, and have found that simply by runnning with cookies turned off for all sites – with the exception of the specific handful of websites that I want to allow – seems be effective 100% of the time. I have yet to hit > any < website that has gotten around the built-in pop-up blocker.
Now, if Safari would just offer the same level of customization without resorting to hacks…
BSOD.. yeah.. totally.. like..
LIMEWIRE..
where you can get any song you want.. get my drift?
I’ll sign the petition mike! Sputnik was lots of fun and I miss him too. Ron was just plain rude (you’re right, far too immature to father a bastard child). NoMacForYou is growing on me, and maybe one day he’ll earn some beaverpoints from me.
hagar57,
You sir, are correct.
Mr. Enderle was indeed named “employee of the month” for the world reknown Enderle ‘Group’. It was given to him by the Vice President of the Enderle ‘Group’. He’s been honored with that prestigious award for 17 months running!