DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.1.6 beta detects and offers to update the ASPI layer on Windows ME (anybody still using that sorry excuse for an OS?), can put titles on either disc in split mode, can remove the layer break and supports a bunch of newer disc corruption schemes.

RipIt4Me 1.4.15.0 can patch IFO and BUP files, blanks useless menu cells and it is more robust in dealing with malformed IFO files.

Microsoft is opening another front in their battle against Fair Use: Shortly after announcing a fix for FairUse4WM, they have launched lawsuit against the author, claiming the tool contains stolen source code from Microsoft - naturally without adding any verifiable proof that this is indeed so. But fear not, FairUse4WM 1.3 is already available.

CinemaNow is now offering major studio titles for download and burning to DVD: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift marks Universal's first title that can be burned onto DVDs. The title uses the FluxDVD "protection" scheme, which incidentally the abovementioned DVD Fab Decrypter release can handle ;)

Last but not least, not every filesharing service has given up yet: Limewire is countersuing the RIAA for antitrust violations. Whether it'll do them any good remains to be seen, so far courts have had a tendency to side with the industry.

RipIt4Me 1.4.14.0 has a function to jump straight to the first menu, checks for disc scratches in movie-only mode, warns the user if he's about to rip an episodic disc and the settings would result in missing some of the episodes, and there are a lot of smaller improvements and bugfixes.

Will your favorite search engine only be able to find article from sites it is paying? Big content, this time in the forum of publishers of printed media, has come up with a new way to squeeze out more money: forbid search engines to index their articles unless the search engine is paying for each article.

SubtitleCreator 2.0.6 includes a faster version of the DirectShow subtitling filter, has a French manual and fixes a bug that resulted in the caret not being displayed when editing the subtitles.

DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.1.2 has an improved GUI for high DPI settings and fixes several minor problems.

There will be no BD / HD DVD combo players for now - after taking a long time to react to the media buzz, LG has denied any such device is in the works.

This may make a lot more people switch to media player classic: Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11 removes the ability to back up and restore content licenses. So, if you buy a DRM'ed song and your PC crashes, you are completely at the mercy of the studios to grant you another license, and I would bet good money that depending on how many times that happens, they will charge you the full price again for each song. Even if you rip your own CDs and forget (if it's even possible..) to turn off the "copy protect music" flag.. songs from your own CDs will suffer the same fate.

Could this be the beginning of studios seeing the light? Yahoo music is selling an album from a major studio in MP3 format without any DRM.

Funny thing about Zune: it does not support Microsoft's current DRM and Microsoft's Zune architect sort of suggests using tools to rip your DVDs to get video onto your Zune. In the meantime, Microsoft's anti piracy operation is sending out cease and desist letters to sites hosting FairUse4WM - but it's exactly the tool you need to get your existing DRM'ed songs onto your brand new Zune. Of course, studios just love the idea of selling you the same song again with a different DRM.

It was just a matter of time: once the EU snooping directive has been put into law, the US is feverishly trying to catch up and beat us Euros at the snooping game. I wonder how long it takes until terrorism is added to the list of "why we must have this" reasons. The RIAA and MPAA are already drooling over the possibility to get their hands on your communication records. Visited Doom9 3 times last month? That's 3 cases of copyright infringement right there your honor...

Auto Gordian Knot 2.33 beta supports audio preview from non AVI sources and fixes a subtitle selection bug.

AviSynth 2.57 RC1 has a few new features and a long list of bugfixes.

FixVTS 1.5 supports logfile appending when launched from the commandline and can handle "twisted" DVDs better ;)

The latest release of the Nero 7 suite, includes Recode 2.3.1.8, which includes a multithreaded AVC high profile encoder, and supports both AVC encoding for the PSP and iPod.

Are they capable of learning after all? While Universal music plans to sue YouTube, Warner will make its music video library available free of charge and in turn get a cut from ad revenue. YouTube users will even be allowed to incorporate parts of those music videos into their own clips.

DVDs may have one more speed bump in them: Sharp has started producing lasers that can burn DVD±R DL discs at 16x.

Are hybrid DVD / HD DVD discs just the tip of the iceberg? Somebody seems to think so and has filed a patent for discs that could contain content in both HD DVD and Blu-ray format.

You may know Derrow as the author of IfoEdit - some time ago he basically left the freeware world to go and work for 321 Studios, maker of the DVDXCopy products. The company was shut down by the movie studios, but two products based on the DVDXCopy XPress engine Derrow developed are being marketed today - so instead of going to court, Derrow asks tricked buyers to reclaim their money and offers the full version of those offending tools via the IfoEdit homepage.

PgcEdit 7.4 can mark PGCs and VTS'es that are never called explicitly, can restart playback at title 1, limits the DVD-TEXT name to the maximum length of the volume name, supports more substitution strings in the commandline tools setup, comes with a new VOBU plugin, and it contains some enhancements and bugfixes as well.

MPEG4 Modifier 1.4.2 fixes a couple problems when handling OpenDML AVI files.

DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.0.1 beta 10 fixes a couple problems when dealing with corrupt discs - and the beta 9 which I didn't mention before adds some new features: a main movie mode, DTS audio removal in full disc copy mode and a DMA check.

ProgDVB 4.78.6 is a bugfix release.

SubtitleCreator 2.0.5 fixes a few bugs.

QTFairUse 2.3 is an experimental version that should work with iTunes 7.0.

HD DVD has barely launched, but we're already expecting the second generation of HD DVD players: Toshiba's HD-A2 and HD-XA2 will use dedicated chips instead of PC components which hopefully will result in quick boot times and faster reaction times in general. The higher end model will also support 1080p

The Fall TV season is heating up, and ABC is relaunching their streaming offer. ABC will offer Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and 4 yet unnamed shows that premiere this fall. Along with the ad-supported streaming shows comes an extensive iTunes promotion with one million free downloads.

ABC is not the only one this season though: NBC will also be offering primetime shows online. I guess US proxies will become rather popular in the coming months as both offers are limited to the US.

The DMCA has almost made its way down under: the first drafts are already circulating.

You may have heard of Zune - Microsoft's attempt at competing with Apple's iPod. Amongst the features that Microsoft has added to compete with the iPod is the ability to share files via wireless interface. Undoubtedly in order to not get in trouble with the RIAA, Microsoft is adding a timebomb to each song shared so they can only be listened to 3 times, and they will expire after 3 days regardless of any listening attempts made - and it doesn't stop at songs that come DRM protected, any song you load, even songs that you're allowed to share, will have that timebomb slapped on them.

And speaking of the RIAA, after undue pressure from the US government has lead to the temporary closure of the popular Swedish Bittorrent tracker site "The Pirate Bay", the RIAA has once again gotten the government onboard and tries to pressure governments into disregarding existing consumer protection laws when it comes to DRM. In the face of eMusic, only RIAA/MPAA lobbyists would construe that any anti-DRM legislation hampers innovation and business - there clearly are business models that work without DRM and treating your customers right has always been and will always be the best means to success.

ImgBurn 2.1.0.0 continues the tradition of massive changelogs.

The mplayer project now has its own GUI for Windows.

Today, Apple has unveiled their movie download offering. As part of the iTunes Store, Apple is now selling movies from Pixar, Touchstone, Miramax and Disney, for $10 - $15 each. The movies will be available in 640x480 resolution (widescreen anyone?), and Apple will keep on using MPEG-4 AC as the video codec. But if they use their own video encoder, even the 1.5 - 2.0 mbit won't help to get anywhere near the quality a good AVC codec (x264, ateme, Mainconcept) can offer.

HD discs that contain more than two layers of data may not be so far off after all - Toshiba has come up with a 3 layer HD DVD disc which can be used in both DVD and HD DVD players. It can either be used as a single layer HD DVD (15GB)plus a dual layer DVD (8.5GB) or a dual layer HD DVD (30GB) and a single layer DVD (4.7GB). Depending on the price of such discs, this may be an interesting alternative for those deciding to stick with their DVD players for now.

ProgDVB 4.78.3 contains a few bugfixes and the elecard edition can record all audio streams of a channel.

DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.0.1 beta 8 fixes a few bugs.

FAVC is a one in all AVI/MOV/WMV to DVD tool.

Amazon has launched their movie download service dubbed Unbox. They seem to be using Microsoft's VC-1 codec along with DRM, and prices are indeed a bit steep - you can often get a DVD for the same price. Businessweek seems to share the opinion that this service won't be a big hit.

As Microsoft reassures its licensees that they'll soon beat FairUse4WM 1.2, Wired has a story on how the DRM breach has triggered the quickest Microsoft patch ever. If only Microsoft were as quickly to react when their product has a critical flaw that actually hurts people, and not just prevents media companies from slapping a corset on content that you pay good money for - it would literally save the worldwide economy billions of dollars.

ProgDVB 4.78.1 is a bugfix release.

DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.0.1 beta 6 fixes a couple minor problems.

You can't compete with free... you may recall this as one of the RIAA and MPAA's favorite argument for declining profit. But, EMI is joining Universal in giving away music for free via Spiralfrog. Naturally it's free with a but, but it's still free. So it appears that you can compete with free after all - Disney already showed how it's done with their TV episode streaming.

Variety has some more details on the upcoming movie download services by Amazon and Apple. Looking at prices that can go up as high as $19.99 in the case of Amazon, I wouldn't be surprised if those offers don't turn out to be a big hit.

In an interview at Berlin's IFA, Toshiba cites technical problems with Blu-ray discs as the reason why HD DVD will prevail. Is it all just smoke and mirrors or is there anything to it?

The latest attempt to extend copyright law by MPAA, RIAA and Co - the broadcast treaty - makes unusual allies join forces: while being fierce enemies on topics like the DMCA, DRM or network neutrality, Sony finds itself on the same page with the EFF, along with AT&T, Verizon, Dell, HP and Intel when it comes to slap the brakes on the broadcast treaty. Of course, when it comes to selling CE devices that allow streaming in your home, laws that would hinder or even ban the retransmission of broadcasts in your home will be a major showstopper for Sony.

ProgDVB 4.78 supports DiSEQ 1.1 and USALS, allows you to chose the SB and fixes a couple of bugs.

DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.0.1 beta 5 takes less long to scan a source and fixes a few bugs.

A preview of Yamb 2.0 is now available. Yamb 2.0 is a complete rewrite of the best GUI for mp4box out there..

The DivX Player 6.3.1 supports MP3 surround sound.

It appears not being on the forefront of the new HD format will have its perks for European consumers. Toshiba's upcoming HD DVD players for the European market won't contain a regular PC that takes ages to boot up, but special chips designed just for the purpose of decoding HD DVDs. The more expensive model will even support 1080p, unlike its US counterpart, and it can't handle region codes even if studios decide to use them - resulting in all players being regionfree. What I find most interesting is that the players can't handle 25fps content - apparently Hollywood is going for 24fps releases, and depending on the player's output, the content is treated so that even outdated hardware can handle it (and thus when using a PC or digital screen fed via digital input, you get to see the original all the way - without the whole bag of tricks applied to movies so they can be played on 50 Hz analog hardware). More on the new players can be found here.

And speaking of HD formats, retailers appear to be rather disappointed with how both formats are doing in the US market.

The confirmation is finally in: Nero 7 Reloaded will bring AVC High Profile to the masses. The release date isn't set in stone yet but it should be out soon.

Defective BY Design.org is looking for your ideas to make October 3rd the "Day Against DRM".

Last month's news can be found here.