Hacker News Reader

There was no copy protection being bypassed in that era, and ripping CDs was just a normal thing that people did to listen to music on their computer without having to worry about scratch discs etc.

View on HN

Or share them on soulseek libraries

Apple had copy protection.

Not in 2001 when the commercials were airing - the iTunes Store was two years away...

Apple only had copy protection (m4p files) if you bought music from the itunes store during the time period where their contract with the music companies demanded they do that. When that clause ended, they stopped doing it, and IIRC when you redownload music purchased during that era from apple, you'll now get unprotected m4a files instead.

The files iTunes produced from ripping CDs were never copy protected.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com