C oming as a surprise to no one, Apple Computer has shutdown a back door that allowed software called PyMusique to buy songs from the iTunes Music Store without Appleis DRM. Calling it an exploit, Apple issued a statement Monday saying that only users of iTunes 4.7, the current version of the software, would be able to access the iTunes Music Store.
"The security hole in the iTunes Music Store which was recently exploited has been closed, and as a consequence the iTunes Music Store will now sell music only to customers using iTunes version 4.7," the company said in a statement.
Just launched on Friday, March 18th, PyMusique offered Windows users a shell with which to access the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). Users could browse Appleis full catalog, and purchase their music through their normal iTunes accounts. The only difference was that the music would be downloaded directly to the client PC without any DRM attached to it.
According to the developers of PyMusique, which includes Jon Lech Johansen ("DVD Jon"), Apple added the DRM that limits where iTMS downloads can be played on download. PyMusique simply bypassed that step in the process.