PyMusique Works with iTunes Again

Remember the story about PyMusique, the iTunes hack written by the infamous DVD Jon Johansen, and Apple Computer's reaction to the crack? As you might recall, PyMusique lets Linux and Windows users purchase music from the Apple iTunes Music Store without using Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management (DRM). Apple quickly disabled PyMusique's access to the music store by requiring all customers to use only the latest version of iTunes. The battle didn't end there, however. No more than a day after Apple's changes broke PyMusique, Johansen reverse-engineered the new iTunes and was able to reenable third-party clients' ability to communicate with the iTunes Music Store. As of press time, Johansen's new hack continues to work, striking a major defeat to the DRM technology that the iTunes Music Store uses. Ironically, the original intent of PyMusique wasn't to defeat Apple's copy protection but to bring the iTunes client to Linux. The hack continues to put into question Apple's ability to protect music publishers and artists, and we'll be interested to watch how the industry reacts