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views:

424

answers:

4

Any ideas how I can create a DRM scheme to protect MP3 files using C++ or perhaps some other language?

+12  A: 

The first thing to learn is that DRM systems only inconvenience the innocent consumers.

The content will have to be available in the clear at some point in order to be of any use. The determined person will intercept it at that point and make a unencumbered copy.

Steve Gilham
Like all the people who burnt their DRM'd WMA's to audio cd's then re-ripped them to mp3... What a waste of plastic...
Matthew Scharley
Yeah, I wish there was some way to emulate a CD-Rom with an image file ;)
Zed
Music,video and book DRM, perhaps. Data intended for automatic processing (such as a Text-To-Speech engine) does not suffer from this limitation. The content never becomes avilable in the clear, merely the end result. (Getting offtopic though)
MSalters
+2  A: 

I recommend the UNIX command "rm file.mp3". This will ensure that nobody will listen to your music file.

jrockway
Not necessarily true, if you're good at hard disk recovery.
Chris Lutz
shred file.mp3; rm file.mp3. :)
Jeremy Powell
+5  A: 

You probably should first consider how many millions of dollars have already been invested in trying to protect music or video files.

And the number of music or video files that currently cannot be copied is zero.

Skrim
+2  A: 

I find the unlink() call quite effective in preventing unauthorized listening.

Mark Harrison