From the “Keep It Simple, Stupid” files…

So I’ve spent all this time researching different ways to figure out how to play my iTunes purchased music on my MythTV system and most all of the ways to do it were either slapdash or involved fooling or removing the DRM. If I wanted to do that, I would’ve just gotten Kazaa or Limewire and downloaded the stuff outright. I paid my $1/song for a reason, and I shouldn’t have to break the rules to transfer these things down a flight of stairs.

So I came to a decision. I’m not going to half-ass it. I’m going to do this the only way that is still within the DRM scheme and will work on Linux. The iTunes agreement states that it is still fair use to burn CDs of your iTunes music and rip them to other file formats for personal use. That’s what I’m doing. The first 18 tracks made their way via CD downstairs to my MythTV. They sound great, the only downside is they took quite awhile to rip down to mp3 on the Myth.

The MythMusic interface does its thing pretty well once the music is there, but it (as iTunes does) has a hard time determining details of single tracks bashed into a compilation disk. So I spent quite awhile renaming those 18 tracks to accurately reflect their title and artist.

This will not be an issue for full CDs, as GraceNote CDDB picks up the track information for me. I just have to collect some of my previously iTunes’d full CDs and rip them down. Good times!