It was only a matter of time until someone came up with a concept to hide the existence of a True Crypt volume on the computer. A method has been described in detail in February, months before the release of the TCHunt application.

TCSteg basically hides the True Crypt container inside a MP4 video file. Even better, that mp4 video is still playable which makes it more plausible that the file is indeed just a video and not host for an encrypted True Crypt volume.

There are still some limitations though, for instance a limitation to a maximum file size of 4 Gigabytes, or the fact that someone who would monitor the bitrate of the video could identify the manipulation. The method however makes it a less likely that someone will find the hidden True Crypt container on the system, as it renders software such as TCHunt useless.

The method combines the mp4 file with the True Crypt container, or to be more precise, the hidden volume of the True Crypt container. You may remember that you can create a hidden volume inside a True Crypt container for that extra bit of security? Exactly that volume is used for the process, the outer volume will not be used at all.

A Python script has been created that handles all the file merging, you can download it from the developer website. You also need a solid quality mp4 video file that’s encoded efficiently to make the combined file size more plausible.

You then create a True Crypt container and a hidden volume and give it a .mp4 name. You should follow the instructions on the developer site to the letter for maximum efficiency, for instance to select a plausible total size for the True Crypt volume and to select the maximum possible size for the hidden volume.

You run the Python script with the following command

python tcsteg.py RealVideo.mp4 TrueCryptContainer.mp4

where RealVideo.mp4 is the mp4 video that you want to use for the disguise, and TrueCryptcontainer.mp4 the encrypted True Crypt container.

Windows users need to first install Python before they can run the Python script.

The process combines the two files, and the end result should be that you can still play the resulting file in a video player and that you can mount the hidden True Crypt volume inside that video.

Additional instructions and the Python script are available at the developer’s website.

An avi to mp4 converter can be used to convert the videos so that they can be played on these devices. Probably the easiest to use avi to mp4 converter is Convert Avi To Mp4 which can convert avi videos with minimal user interaction to the mp4 format.

The main advantage of this software program is that it supports a wide variety of input formats ranging from avi to mpeg, wmv, divx and xvid. All of these formats can be converted to mp4 without the need for external programs or codecs. Everything is built in and it only takes a few seconds to start the conversion.

Convert Avi to Mp4 is compatible with most Windows operating system including Windows XP and Windows Vista. Some users might find the avi to mp4 converter to easy to use as it does not come with any settings or parameters that can be changed. Users who simply want to convert a video format to mp4 without having to set any conversion parameters will find Convert Avi To Mp4 the perfect companion for that undertaking.

need to add the path to mp4 box in the settings before you proceed to use some of the options that yamb offers. You may choose the creation or edition tab to use Yamb afterwards. The creation tab lets you create mp4 and 3gp files by adding other movie files such as divx ones. Created files can be further customized by splitting the output files for instance.

More important is the edition tab which lets you split and join mp4, mov and 3gp file and convert subtitles to the right format. Joining mp4 files is as easy as splitting them. Drop the files that you want to join in the correct order into yamb and select the output file. Please note that the output file has to exist, otherwise Yamb will abort the process.

Just create a blank file with the mp4 extension and everything should work out fine. Joining mp4 files is a fast process, it took Yamb 13 seconds to join two 60 megabyte mp4 files together.

So, where is the alternative to deleting the files because they are basically useless to you ? You could try some programs that rip the DRM out of the music files to be able to transfer and use the music on your new mp3 player. Please note that using those programs might be illegal in the country where you are living, make sure you know what you are doing before downloading and using them. Not that someone would be able to find out.. The world needs more disclaimers like this, don’t you think ?
The first program that is able to remove the DRM is QTFairUse. It can be downloaded from Rapidshare, the link was published on the forum thread that I linked to. The second tool is myFairTunes which does the same and converts the mp4 file to mp3 as well. I do not think that it makes much of a difference which program you will be using. I suggest you download one and if it does everything the way you want it you stick with that.

I don’t need them at all because I do not buy music, videos or other media in stores that add DRM to the files or demand a ridiculous amount of money for the media.

The free version supports only youtube but that should probably be enough for most users out there. The author offers plugins for five video sites that cost $7.99: dailymotion, blip.tv, google video, metacafe and myspace. Most users probably don’t need the plugin to enable the other websites.

iTube will automatically import any downloaded and converted movie to iTunes. The movie will then automatically sync with your video iPod (if you have one). You can still play the files in iTunes if you don’t have a video iPod.

Itube needs the .net framwork from Microsoft. It will check if the framwork is installed on your system, ff you do not have it installed it will prompt to download it.

If you do not have a software that supports plugins you could use the excellent freeware Burrn which supports many formats which are: wav, mp3, mpc, ogg, aac, mp4, ape, flac, ofr, wv, tta, m3u, pls and fpl playlists and cue sheets as well as embedded cuesheets for ape, wv and flac files. It reads the tags automatically and adds them to the burning process. Burrrn is really easy to use, it supports drag and drop and direct editing of song title and artist.

You will have to choose a burner the first time it starts. Once this is done the main window opens and you may add new songs to the CD by dragging songs or cue sheets to the main window.  If you want a certain order for your files you have to drag them one at a time. Last but not least it offers a way to adjust the replaygain for all songs before the songs are burned to the audio cd.