Donna Wentworth writes over on Corante, “Jon Johansen [has] been working on what he calls PyMusique, the ‘fair’ interface to the iTunes Music Store. Explains Jon (via email):”
PyMusique is an interface to the iTunes Music Store that lets you preview songs, sign up for an account and buy songs. It is somewhat interesting from a DMCA/EUCD perspective. The iTunes Music Store actually sells songs without DRM. While iTunes adds DRM to your purchases, PyMusique does not. Another difference is that signing up for an account using PyMusique does not require you to sign/click away any of your rights.
“But here’s the question: How “interesting” is it? Does it stay in the free and clear, or does it brush up against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) or European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD)?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s very interesting that, according to Johansen’s email, that Apple’s iTunes Music Store actually sells songs without DRM and that it’s the iTunes application that adds DRM to your purchases where PyMusique does not. We’ll leave the rest of it to the lawyers, as one would have to bet that Apple finds this application more than just “somewhat interesting,” since Apple’s iTunes Music Store Terms of Service clearly states, “You will not access the Service by any means other than through software that is provided by Apple for accessing the Service.”
More about “DVD Jon” here.
We’re looking for more information regarding this application, which seems to have Linux and Windows versions only at this time. Early reports we’ve seen indicate that songs purchased from Apple’s iTunes Music Store (iTMS) via this application have no DRM present (the resulting files are .m4a, not .m4p) – as if you had used iTunes to rip a CD to 128kbps AAC vs. buying it from iTMS via iTunes. If anyone has any info or has tried PyMusique, please let us know via our “Contact” page or by using the “Reader Feedback” section below this article. Thank you.