Remove DRM From WMA

Copyright protection is one of the most controversial subjects in the music and movie industry. The debate often stems from varied opinions on the extent of ownership (and thus liberty of use), that a buyer of digital music for instance, should enjoy. It is for this reason that DRM (or Digital Rights Management) has been caught in the cross hairs of this storm. Whereas music composers and producers largely take the position that buying the music only gives the buyer the right to listen to the music, proponents of less control argue that the buyer should not be penalized for wanting to listen to the legally purchased music on different platforms and devices, something that DRM effectively does.

This is one of the reasons why a number of groups and individuals have come up with different techniques and software applications through which one can circumvent or remove DRM protection from music files such as DRM-protected WMA files. DRM protection in itself is not homogenous and the technique used to remove protection must be in conformance to the method used to enforce DRM. If you have a WMA file and would like to remove DRM, there are a number of ways you can do so.

One of the earliest techniques used to remove DRM was to burn the downloaded files onto a CD or DVD and then use the standard ‘ripping’ software to convert them from the CD into the desired format. This however does not work all the time because for starters, not all DRM protected WMA files can be burned to CD. In addition, the DRM protection can be so ingrained that the DRM is not removed even with this burning and ripping routine.

Then there is software that works by simply recording the music file. Using this method is often considered as a means of taking advantage of the ‘Analog Hole’. You can often identify such converters by the fact that they will sometimes require you to mute your computer’s speaker during the ‘conversion’.  One of the main drawbacks with this type of conversion is that the quality of the eventual file is usually much lower than that of the original.

Another set of software tools that one can use are those that go down to a much deeper level than the ‘Analog Hole’ converters. They are developed on the premise that DRM is for all practical purposes, the encryption of a digital music file. As you play the music file, there is a decryption that takes place in the background. These software tools intercept the audio stream immediately it is converted at this low level and recreate the music file in the format you would prefer such as MP3. However, this technique is heavily dependent on the type of encryption and encryption key used