m4p2mp3 – helper to turn an iTunes protected m4p to an mp3

m4p2mp3 — helper to turn an iTunes protected M4P to an MP3, so I can play music I have bought on my MP3 player. Probably runs best on a Unix-like OS.

You will need Perl, some M4Ps, mono, FairKeys, DeDRMS, faad, and lame. You’ll need to edit the script to say where the DeDRMS.exe file is. You’ll need to have run FairKeys to pick up your account details from Apple’s server.

Does the conversion via WAV, so you’ll definitely lose something. As written, MP3 file sizes are about 15% larger than the M4P. Doesn’t handle invalid MP3 genres gracefully at all; there is the beginnings of a mechanism to do this in the code, though.

This script doesn’t know anything about decryption, and thus contains no code to circumvent DRM.

no ‘ole

The ‘ole in the ground is gone, and we have water again. Yay!

‘ole

There’s now a huge hole in the pavement outside our house where the city have been repairing the main drain. Yay civilisation!

Just their two cents …

I see that Froogle has started to place value on people’s opinions:

Handspring Treo 180 Review Comments – The Gadgeteer Bulletin Board
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VoiceStream had told me that they did not have service in Canada, but I found that GSM service is very good everywhere up there, provided by MicroCel.

www.the-gadgeteer.comMore from store  

now that’s what I call an URL!

Yes, there really is a HugeURL.com. Here’s one for this blog:

http://hugeurl.com/?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

drain, pt2

The city came to do the drain last night. They found bad stuff, but the guy was pretty sure it was on city property. Sure enough, when they came to CCTV the drain this morning, the city pipe was cracked and badly offset. So yay!, we don’t have to pay.

Unfortunately, we do have to pay up for the basement damage. Since this happened before, we have a monstrous deductable on our insurance policy. The City of Toronto Water and Wastewater Services (whose people have been great, so far) limit claims to $500, and we may not be eligible. So we’re going to be out of pocket, but not as much as we were in Januay 2003.

aarggh! delivery.ca and pizzaville.ca suck monkey bum!!

We like Pizzaville pizzas. We are shy, and can order them online at delivery.ca with no human interaction.

We ordered our favourite pizzas tonight, and waited. And waited. And waited! And waited!! So I call them. After getting hung up on once, they explain that the store we order from is closed, and so we can’t get deliveries. They claim that they called us. We don’t think so.

This is, frankly, crap customer service. We’re going elsewhere. The pizzas from 241 may taste of cardboard, but at least they deliver.

Oh yeah, and delivery.ca seriously endanger your credit card information by sending your data unencrypted to the server. I’d make that illegal, if I could. It’s the dumbest thing ever.

drain

Ah, the joys of home ownership: our main drain has done a bad thing again. A couple of years back, it was so choked with roots from a city tree that it flooded the basement with icky stuff. This time, it just made a wet patch on the floor.

It seems that the tree (planted about 50 years ago with the house) has got into the city’s pipe, partially collapsing it. We share this outlet with our neighbours, so it’s going to be more involved getting it fixed.

There are a couple of other houses in our short stretch of street that have needed this work done. Much as I like trees in the urban environment, when they get in your drains, it’s personal.

Good Activism Guide, from an unexpected source

Activism 101: An Introduction is a remarkably good guide on what you can do to get your voice heard in Canada. The source, however, is one that I’m probably the least aligned with: Focus on The Family (Canada).

This came via a link from boingboing’s Having fun with the FCC Whine-o-Matic, which alleges that 99.8% of the complaints going to the FCC about indecency are coming from the Parents Television Council Complaint Form.

small change, again

Was at the CoinStar machine again today, 301 days after my last visit. I deposited 391 quarters, 316 dimes, 161 nickels and 514 pennies. That’s $142.54, or $128.57 after CoinStar’s cut. The small change weighed 4.4kg, and had a volume of approximately 1.3l.

So that means that we generate 47¢ in small change every day …