what is an effective way to protect mp3 files from download?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Is it possible to protect from downloading a video from a site.

i'm looking for a way to allow mp3 files to be streamed using a flash player on a php web page, but to hide and protect these files from download.

embedding the file into the swf is unacceptable for this project, since there will be many mp3 files, uploaded by users.

i have seen this kind of protection implemented in http://www.realworldremixed.com/ , when i tried to figure out how they did it, i didn't see a reference to the mp3 file even with a sniffer attached to IE. anyone knows how i can implement something like this?

Answer 1

See this please:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/300749/protect-flash-video-from-download-right-protect

Answer 2

Use a Streming library like FFMpeg. It is the easiest way.

Answer 3

in my opinion there's no secure way to protect your mp3 because the user can always easily record the wave on his sound card.

the only way that keep a surfer from leach your songs is changing the volume of the song every 'X' seconds. this kind of up and down will permit the listening but will discourage the download

Answer 4

See the question Sarfraz linked for several opinions.

You can half do this with streaming, because it's harder for casual users to "steal" streamed content than downloaded content. Harder, but not hard.

You can try to do this with DRM. DRM is a very attractive idea to content owners, but ultimately, you have to weigh the pros and cons. Obviously getting some degree of protection for your content is (to you) a "pro," but consider the very large "cons" as well: DRM is inconvenient for your users. It requires infrastructure to support. It's not an impediment at all to professional content thieves or even motivated amateurs. You can pretty easily find "DRM-stripped" copies of nearly all content out there; once one person has gone to the trouble, they tend to make it available to others (either for free or for a price).

Meanwhile, you're using (wasting?) valuable development time trying to prevent something that's not preventable in today's world.

I'd say: Go with streaming because it raises the bar, and then just accept that your content will get taken without your consent by some percentage of users. I assert you can lower that percentage by making it easy and convenient for users to acquire the content with your consent, which DRM is exactly the opposite of doing.