We thought maybe we’d heard the last of “DVD Jon” Johansen when he announced back in late 2006 that he was going legit. “Ah ha,” said we to ourselves, “he’ll just end up fading into obscurity like all those scoundrels who go clean. I mean, who cares about Han Solo after he joins up with the Rebellion, am I right?”
But Johansen’s venture, doubleTwist, has today launched its new software, doubleTwist desktop. The program—currently only for Windows—is centered around the idea of sharing media: on your devices, with your friends and family over social networks, etc. Sounds simple enough.
Ah, but with the infamous DVD Jon involved (he serves as the Chief Technology Officer of DoubleTwist), there must be a catch, n’est-ce pas? One of doubleTwist desktop’s killer features is the ability for you to share—“liberate,” in their parlance—DRM-protected music you’ve bought from iTunes with others. And despite the fact that DVD Jon literally made his name by cracking DVD’s CSS encryption protocol, there’s no funny business involved. Instead, doubleTwist plays your music at fast-forward and captures that to your disk as an MP3—much in the same way you’d rip a CD. You’ll lose some sound quality—the company estimates about 5%—and you can only liberate songs that you legitimately own.
The company insists that a Mac version of their software is coming soon. In fact, if you visit their download page on your Mac, it’ll tell you: “Although several of us are Mac users, we do not yet have a MacOS X version of doubleTwist desktop. We will soon be releasing functionality for Mac users, including an iPhone app.” Their FAQ adds: “We are looking for talented Mac developers to join our team.” Just in case you’re in need of a programming gig.
Some might think Johansen’s painting a bullseye on his back with this plan, but since there’s no cracking of DRM involved, I’d say it sounds legal to my layman’s brain (at least as far as the tenets of the DMCA are concerned). Not to mention, that if Steve Jobs ever does get his way and the remaining record companies do let iTunes sell DRM-free music, this won’t mean a thing anyway.
