Seemingly overnight, several Chinese sites have sprung up selling $200 iTunes gift cards for less than $3 USD, they’re doing this by “cracking” Apple’s algorithm and using it to generate their own codes. The only thing Apple will have to do is change it’s algorithm, which should make this problem disappear. Then Apple will have […]
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iTunes Gift Card Algorithm Cracked

Mar 11th 2009 by

Seemingly overnight, several Chinese sites have sprung up selling $200 iTunes gift cards for less than $3 USD, they’re doing this by “cracking” Apple’s algorithm and using it to generate their own codes.

The only thing Apple will have to do is change it’s algorithm, which should make this problem disappear. Then Apple will have to figure out which codes to accept. There are plenty of legitimate codes sitting around out there Apple will have to accept.

I think the repercussions of this are far more than the several thousand dollars Apple will lose. First, it will give the music labels an excuse to try and reinstate some sort of Digital Rights Management when it comes time to renegotiate contracts. Unlikely, but it could happen. Secondly, it proves it can be done. Who else will try it? This could get out of hand in a hurry.

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