Apple's proprietary DRM cracked

iTunes for all?

Apple's proprietary DRM technology may have survived allegations of anti-competitiveness and even government attempts at intervention in the past two years but it seems one software engineer has found a way to crack the iTunes code.

Tracks downloaded from iTunes have to date only worked on Apple's iPod music players, and rivals and consumers have called for change, branding this relationship anti-competitive.

Now Jon Lech Johansen - better known as DVD Jon - is widely reported to have reverse-engineered his way under the skin of Apple's FairPlay DRM.

A spokeswoman for Apple said the company has "no comment at this time".

In March 2005 Johansen found a security hole in Apple's iTunes program which allowed music to be downloaded stripped of its copy protection. And although Apple closed that hole, within days Johansen had opened up iTunes once again, this time for Linux users.