jPlayer Stream MP3 but prevent from downloading and hotlinking
I am building a site similar to thefuture.fm. DJs are able to upload MP3 files and set if the file only can be streamed or streamed and downloaded.
Visitors to the site don't have to login to listen to music. They should be able to stream/download these MP3 songs depending on the users settings.
I am using the jPlayer to play songs. I have searched all over the web but can't find any solution. Does jPlayer have any facility like prevent downloading of MP3 files? Or is there any way I can prevent this?
Answer
It's actually impossible to prevent downloading. You can make it harder for somebody, but he still needs to download all the data to hear the song. So even if you use some encryption to send the data to a flash player you write yourself, the player will have to decrypt it and play the audio. And since you can decompile flash it wouldn't be to hard to find out the algorithm. He could also just record the music again when playing it (similar to the first DVD decrypt tools, who just took a screenshot 30 times/sec to pass million dollar security measurements)
So the goal is to make it harder, not impossible.
Personally I would go for temporary available links in combination with a cookie, so I can still use jplayer and don't have to reinvent the wheel. Also use some obfuscating to make it harder to read the URL.
When somebody request the main URL (where you show your player) generate a unique key and save it in a cookie. The unique key should link to the IP address and request time stored in session.
Now create a link to the music file like playfile.php?file=music.mp3 or whatever. Just make sure that PHP will handle the file request. If you obfuscate this link it will be a little harder to find it.
In playfile.php check for the unique code in the cookie and check if it matches the IP address in session and the request time is less then EG 15 seconds (any longer and music won't play anyway with slow internet connection). If it is, stream the file. If it's not, block it.
Now if somebody would write a program/script to download the music, he can. But if somebody has the knowledge and time to do that, nothing will stop him from downloading it.
This will prevent any normal user from downloading it.