So I’m using Ruckus a lot for music downloads (access to a ridiculous library of music online) and before I pack up my PC and head home to the land-of-dial-up, I’m trying to convert a few into mp3 or some sort of non-protected file so I can burn/mp3 player some. I’ve tried tunebite, Cool Edit Pro, Goldwave, notecable, a few others, nothing is working. Either it’s a restricted demo of a program, or the program itself doesn’t do the trick. Do any of ya’ll use anything to bypass the DRM stuff?
What the fuck is Ruckus?
It’s like Rhapsody (so I hear, never tired Rhapsody), but it’s only exclusive for college students. Absolutely free, no spyware, strings, or bullshit attached. So long as you have a university e-mail address, you can register for it, access the site and download the player.
It’s a bit unique in downloading tunes, too. You use your browser to search for albums, artists, track titles, etc. When you find the album/track you’re looking for, you’ll click on it and it’ll give you the entire track list. You click what you want to nab and hit download. The browser will save it to your music folder as a self-opening .exe command and start downloading the songs TO your Ruckus Player ON your Ruckus Player.
The program is great, but it’d cost a bit of money if you wanted to put the songs directly onto your ipod. I only have a Sansa MP3 player (cheaper yet efficient, I’m not paying $120 extra just for a little ‘clicky wheel’ thing), but all the files are DRM protected and won’t play on certain mp3 players or other programs.
If you still have your college e-mail, give it a whirl. I found Vince Guaraldi’s, Raymond Scott’s, Perry Como’s, Smashing Pumpkin’s, every THING by them. I’m not kidding when I say their library is outrageously huge.
If the DRM allows you to burn them to a disc, burn them to a CDRW, then re-rip them as whatever you want.
Edit: Looked around, I don’t think that will work. Also, it fails at accepting my *.ac.uk address. 
DRM is a fucking awful idea.
I dunno about you, but I think DRM falls under the category of both bullshit and strings. Bullstrings, if you will.
Wikipedia tells me that Ruckus supplies files in Windows Media format, using their PlaysForSure DRM. Wikipedia also tells me that there is apparently a work-around for this DRM: Windows Media DRM - Wikipedia
Looks complicated. Best of luck to you.
There’s a site called MP3 Fiesta that has tons of dirt-cheap, DRM-free music on it. It seems legit, albeit possibly too good to be true. I haven’t used it myself. But it should at least be a good excuse if you ever ran into the RIAA in a dark alley: “Hey, I paid to download them from a legit-looking site, go after them!”
Try Audacity. So long as your computer’s sound card supports “stereo mix” or (forget the name of it) you should be able to record the audio being played on the PC. Be sure not to have an instant messengers or noise producers open when copying though. And it can take a while as you have to copy the songs in real-time. And if you’re in the USA it’s also a crime to circumvent DRM under the DMCA. So be careful.
Edit: Just adding to what I said before. Audacity is an excellent free, open-source program and it should be able to help you quite a bit. But please reply if there is no such “stereo mix” or other option that allows you to record what is being played in the program. Or if the program simply won’t work because of the DRM locking down (or rootkitting your system like a certain set of Sony Cds, video DVDs or PC game anti-copy systems) your system.
I know you can get around, and I’m willing to aid and abet in your quest to bypass that nasty DRM from my safe position here.