Using a loophole in a winamp plugin, you can download and burn music from Napster for free.
music CDs, zero dollars*, obtained legally.
*Not including the cost of blank CDs
Practical how to:
0. Download and install Napster, sign up for 14 day free trial.
1. Download and install Winamp
2. Download and install the Winamp Plug-in Output Stacker
3. Open Winamp Options->Plug-ins->Output->Dietmar's Output Stacker->Configure
a. Add out_ds.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
b. Add out_disk.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
c. Select out_disk.dll in the Output Stacker->Configure
d. Set the output directory and output file mode to Force WAV file
e. Exit preferences
4. Load downloaded Napster protected WMAs into your Winamp playlist
5. Press play and each file will be converted to WAV as it plays
6. Burn WAVs to CD with your favorite burning program
Theoretical fun:
Three computers, one fast networked drive, and a few dedicated people: Turning Napster's 14 day free trial into 252 full 80 minute CDs of free music.
New key developments:
-If you use the "Out-lame" Winamp plugin in the Output Stacker in place of "Out-disk", you can convert straight to MP3. It still encodes no faster than realtime, but this is a great way to conserve space. WAV(Out-disk) is still recommended if you are burning CDs and want to keep as much quality as possible. I can confirm that this all works.
-You can run multiple instances of Winamp at once, each converting its own song. Each instance's playback will not interfere with any of the others, illustrating the fact that this is not simply recording the music off of your soundcard. Doing this, you can get FAR MORE than 252 full 80 minute CDs within 14 days. I can confirm that this works.
You can transcode(MP3) or decode(WAV) X albums in the time it takes for the longest track on the album to elapse. And since you're not limited to only tracks from one album at a time, you can trans/decode as many tracks as instances of Winamp your computer will run limited only by your computer's resources.
Quote from Napster's official statement:
"It would take 10 hours to convert 10 hours of music in this manner."
With the updated methods, you can convert 100 hours or 1,000 hours or 10,000 hours of music in 10 hours. The only limit is your computing resources.
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