RIP: DRM

by jaganath on January 12, 2008

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We know this was coming. Finally, the DRM daemon has been conquered. Leading from the front is the Amazon’s mp3 downloads store, which now offers DRM free music from all major labels.

Gone are the days when there was only one mp3 player per house. Today everyone has atleast 10 devices which are mp3 enabled. When I purchase an mp3 song, I expect to play it in all my devices, not just on my iPod and PC. The real pain of using DRMed music is when your change computers or your hard drive crashes. Many music stores allow you to download your purchased music only a limited number of times. DRM free music does not have any of these hassles.

It is now natural that the iTunes store, the largest online music store in the world, will now be forced to go completely DRM free. Expect an announcement at Macworld this year.

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Quick Tip: Ripping MP3 from YouTube videos

by jaganath on January 12, 2008

YouTube is a great source of hard to find music videos. What if you need a mp3 version of your favorite video song? I used to go through a long procedure of downloading the flv first, then ripping the mp3 using VLC command line. This step, while giving you greater flexibility like setting the mp3 bitrate etc., is still a time consuming job.

 Converting youtube videos to mp3 

With the advent of online video conversion tools, this step is greatly simplified. Use an online tool like Zamzar and select the conversion format as mp3 (or ogg if you are an open format junkie). You will receive an email link from where you can download your music file!

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