The program, entitled FairUse4WM (Fair Use for Windows Media) requires that the user already owns media files that have been purchased from one of the many Windows Media online stores that exist today. It does not attempt to find encryption keys by brute force, as some other software (most notably DeCSS) has done in the past. Instead, it finds the encryption keys (at least one active key is necessary for the program to work) that have been installed on your computer by Media Player itself. Once these keys have been found, FairUse4WM modifies the .WMA files to remove all traces of encryption on them. The "converted" files can then be played on any player that supports the WMA format, regardless of whether or not it supports WMA DRMâ€â€in testing the application, we loaded the converted files on a Macintosh using Flip4Mac. The program does not appear to work with encrypted WMV (Windows Media Video) files.
Unlike Apple, which has stuck to its 99 cents per song purchasing scheme, many online Windows Media stores have been promoting a subscription model, where the consumer pays a monthly access fee to download as many songs as they wish. Under this model, if the user stops paying the monthly fee their license keys are revoked and they can no longer listen to any of their songs. If the songs have been converted by FairUse4WM, however, they will still be able to be played on any platform.
