DVD Jon is growing up. He's no longer helping geeks free their media from DRM—he wants to make it easy enough for our parents to use, too. Through a new venture called doubleTwist, DVD Jon (Jon Lech Johansen) and partner Monique Farantzos have already released a desktop and web application that makes stripping DRM from some of the world's most popular formats—including Windows Media DRM and iTunes' FairPlay—as easy as drag-and-drop.

"When you receive an e-mail, you can read it on your Blackberry, web mail, or Outlook. E-mail just works," said Farantzos in a statement. "With digital media such as video from a friend’s cell phone or your own iTunes playlists, it’s a jungle out there. It can be an hour-long exercise in futility to convert files to the correct format and transfer them to your Sony PSP or your phone. [...] Our goal is to provide a simple and well integrated solution that the average consumer can use to eliminate the headaches associated with their expanding digital universe."

The two new offerings start with a beta of doubleTwist desktop, a Windows Vista/XP client (a Mac version is planned for the second quarter of the year). With the desktop app, you will be able to plug in supported devices and have the software automatically recognize the media files stored on them, then transfer them to the computer and automatically convert the files (if necessary) to something without DRM. From here, you can either sync up doubleTwist with your iTunes library (there is full integration) or share files with other friends who use doubleTwist—there is no file limit, but doubleTwist says that shared video files must be under 10 minutes and audio files under 20 minutes apiece.

This means that, if you plug in your device to a Windows XP machine running doubleTwist, it will see any files (DRMed or not), convert them to an DRM-free format if necessary, and allow you to sync those files with another device. And for those who still like iTunes for media management, doubleTwist can directly integrate with it so that you can continue managing your music there. Supported devices so far include Sony PSP, Nokia N Series, Sony Ericsson, Walkman, and Cybershot phones, LG Viewty, some Windows Mobile smartphones, and the Amazon Kindle. Curiously, Apple's iPod is not listed yet, although doubleTwist pledges eventual iPhone compatibility. (Even without direct plug-and-play with the iPod, doubleTwist can still read iTunes playlists and decode protected AAC files for syncing with other devices.)





doubleTwist's Facebook widget

The second offering is "Twist me!," a Facebook application that lets users share files with their friends on the popular social network. Users can select any number of music or video files (up to 10MB) and upload them through the widget, which will convert them to a sharing-friendly format and send them to selected friends. When I tried to use the app, however, it threw me an error (presumably because of heavy traffic). Again, doubleTwist promises compatibility with other social networks soon.

Convenience aside, the legality of doubleTwist's venture is questionable. DRM circumvention is not looked upon kindly by the law—specifically, the DMCA prohibits it except in specific cases. Also, there's the 800lb. gorilla in the corner called "file-sharing" that will surely come under legal fire within weeks, if not days. This is why it's even more curious that doubleTwist has already received venture funding, albeit from a European-backed venture capital firm. Index Ventures, which has funded other startups like Skype and last.fm, appears to be thrilled about the partnership, citing doubleTwist as a "simple yet powerful solution for a growing consumer issue."

Actually, we wouldn't exactly say that DRM is a "growing" issue—especially with the looming death of DRM in the music industry. All four major labels and a significant number of independent music labels have already ditched DRM, and any remnants of it left on various online distributors (including iTunes) are sure to make their way out of the system throughout the year. DRM is still alive and well, however, when it comes to video, so perhaps doubleTwist still has a healthy future if the company is able to stay on top of new DRM schemes.

Users are encouraged to submit feedback to doubleTwist with any beta issues and requests for specific device support.