When Apple designed the iPod series, it appears they tried their best to cut back in what they felt were unnecessary features, e.g. no radio, no recording and no removable battery on its regular iPod to even no screen on its Shuffle series. However the total opposite is true when it comes to their software. While many other MP3 players require no software to transfer music, the iPod requires a hefty 21MB download and installation of iTunes before one can even start to transfer music to their player.
Now quite a lot of iPod fans are excited with a Winamp plugin known as ml_iPod that also allows music transfer and synchronisation between the PC and iPod. Justin Frankel, the creator of Winamp started development of ml_iPod and then it was taken over by a UK computer science student Will Fisher. Besides being less than 130kB in size, this plugin also allows music to be copied back off the iPod as well as work with almost any iPod apart from certain iPod Shuffle's. An iPod is locked to one given iTunes software client and must be erased before it can be 'married' with another iTunes client and iTunes even prohibits copying music off the iPod.
The author believes that an iPod owner is freely entitled to use what ever application they want and not be locked to certain application just to enforce DRM or other copy protection measures. However, as Apple's store music still contains the DRM while on the player, ml_iPod users will need the Hymn project to unlock these once they are copied from the player. Finally unlike iTunes, the plugin also works with Windows ME.
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The plug-in, called ml_iPod, allows iPod users to bypass iTunes and manage music collections in Winamp instead. The iPod is supposed to work with iTunes only. A new version of the software was released Monday. Justin Frankel, creator of Winamp and the open-source peer-to-peer software Gnutella, initially developed ml_iPod, but programming was taken over by Will Fisher, a computer science student in the U.K. Fisher and other developers programmed a slew of features, including the ability to synch multiple iPods with Winamp, create smart playlists and -- the most useful option -- the ability to copy songs from an iPod onto a hard drive. "A lot of the feedback I get is people thanking me for freeing them from iTunes," said Fisher. "It shows the dissatisfaction people have with iTunes." Read the full article here. |
With the iPod leading the market, it is not surprising to see as many utilities aiming to get around this and that. In this case, this application can also allow the iPod to be used as a backup for music, especially with the larger iPods where one can transfer their entire collection including all their music CDs on to it. Then again, while allowing consumers to copy music off their iPod may seem like a piracy risk, consumers can already do this with recordable discs, portable hard drives and pretty much any other MP3 player where music can be put on through a drive letter instead of through software.
Source: Wired News
