AllOfMP3 DRM Cracked, Patched

Controversial Russian MP3 seller AllOfMP3 recently made available their entire catalogue of music downloadable for free, provided you download their 'Music for Masses' software MP3 player. The freely downloaded files are DRM-protected and come with the extension '.mp3x' making them unplayable in any player other than their own Music for Masses, which requires you to be online and logged in when playing the music. You don't need to pay for these downloads—they are completely free.

Soon after, hackers found a way into the proprietary MP3 player and released cracks that converted the protected '.mp3x' files into plain old MP3s, playable in WinAmp, iTunes, your car, your DVD player, or even your refrigerator. AllOfMP3 downloads skyrocketed since the cracks were made popular by Digg users and more people got introduced to AllOfMP3 than before.

But just two days ago, AllOfMP3 released an updated version of the Music for Masses software, version 0.64, which disables the crack. The update is automatically performed when online with the older version (0.54), which no longer works to play the downloaded '.mp3x' files.

Theres more; the hacker/cracker who developed one of the cracks for the Music for Masses software has begun working on the new, updated version of the player, which seems to have more encryption, a different web API (instantly breaking the older version) and no longer uses the ‘fmod’ library to play back music. To let the community track his progress, the hacker, who goes by the nickname ‘Progranism’, has set up a blog where he plans to put the new crack up for download.

The moment the new crack is released, AllOfMP3 developers are likely to update Music for Masses once again, but the hacker will go after it once again. AllOfMP3 may continue to play this cat-and-mouse game, or eventually scrap the free player concept altogether.

Recently, AllOfMP3 has had quite a few setbacks in the form of being blocked in Denmark and being refused business by VISA and MasterCard, but the site stays legally secure as it operates in compliance with lax Russian copyright laws.