Member Avatar for coollife

if an mp3 file is added to usb drive , it should be playable and it should not be copy able to the disk .

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asked for MP3s that play from a USB stick but cannot be copied; correctly warned that most protections are bypassable. A plain USB mass‑storage device (FAT/exFAT) exposes files to the host OS, so any file the player can read can also be copied. There is no magic language that makes a normal MP3 file simultaneously playable by arbitrary players and immune to copying.

Real, practical options (with tradeoffs):

  • Stream the audio from a server instead of shipping files — users can listen but do not receive raw files.
  • Use a protected-container + custom player model: store encrypted audio on the stick and supply a signed player that decrypts on the fly after checking a license. This raises development, key‑management, and deployment complexity and still cannot stop all capture (the “analog hole”). See general DRM concepts for background (Digital rights management).
  • Use hardware-backed devices (secure USB tokens or vendor firmware that presents a read‑only CD partition) to raise the bar, or adopt a commercial DRM platform rather than inventing one.

Which language? Any general-purpose language will do. For Windows targets, VB.NET or C# are convenient for building a player and integrating crypto libraries; for cross‑platform work consider C++/Java/Swift. The language choice is secondary — the design (key storage, signing, license checks, tamper resistance) is what determines how hard the solution is to defeat. For a production DRM stack, consider established platforms (for example, vendor DRM solutions such as Microsoft PlayReady) rather than a DIY approach (Microsoft PlayReady).

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Member Avatar for debasisdas

what playable ?

all mp3 files are playable , if your usb drive is a player it will definately play the file.

Member Avatar for vb5prgrmr

For almost any scheme that can be thought of to protect files on a drive, usb or otherwise, there are ways in which to get around that scheme.

One of the simplest ways is to either try and hide the files or encrypt them or to setup your program with side by side execution and autorun info but once again any of these can be side stepped by the user.

Also search for side by side or make my manifest.

Good Luck

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