New software promises to unlock iPod, iTunes

A 22-year old hacker known as "DVD Jon" has developed a method of making music purchased on iTunes work on players other than iPods AND has made it so that music purchased from other sources will play on the iPod! Since this new method does not remove any copyright protections and does not try to "hack through" any DRM schemes, it is perfectly legal. The system tricks the iPod into thinking it is playing a song with Apple's FairPlay copyright technology while at the same time allows that song to be played by competing mp3 players.

Read more about this here.

DoubleTwist Ventures for whom "DVD Jon" is working, says they plan to license this system to businesses allowing them to complete directly with Apple on their own turf.

This all sounds great but iPod users already have another alternative to free themselves from the DRM shackles slapped on them by Apple. This solution sounds a lot more appealing to me however I'm sure that DoubleTwist's solution is easier for those iPod owners who are less technically savvy.