HDD120 + WMA + MSN's DRM = pain in butt

[johnpaddy2150]

I recently purchased a music track in WMA form through MSN downloads.

Not being au fait with computer aside from being able to use internet P2P I didn't realise at the time that I would not be able to transfer the file to my philips HDD120 jukebox because of DRM protection (which I know a bit about now!).

My question is does anyone know of a way to remove the DRM so that I can freely listen to a track I legitimately purchased in whatever format I choose?I recently purchased a music track in WMA form through MSN downloads.

[VeX]

I don't think that you can remove a protection. But there is a way to listen those songs on your hdd. Get audacity or some other recording program, set to record from wave/mp3 and play that song in winamp or whatever. I think that's the only way, but it takes time and is a great pain in the but...

So this should teach all you people who want to be goody two shoes and buy music to download it for free in the future! :D

[Ioman]

There are hacks on the web that I think let you do this, but you would be bery hard pressed to find them. The work around is to burn those DRM files to a CD and then rip them back off of the CD. This is interesting that you bring this up because I don't think most people realize that DRM protected songs do not work with every audio player. For example songs downloaded from iTunes ONLY work with your PC and an Apple iPod.

[redpenguin]

you can just burn a cd with the track and rip it back into the computer and the drm will not travel with it. i find this easier and quicker than fidling with software etc