Coldplay's new CD has rules: No MP3s, no DVD players, no car stereos

BoingBoing ^ | 30 December 2005 | Cory Doctorow

[ShadowAce]

Coldplay's new CD has rules: No MP3s, no DVD players, no car stereos

Coldplay's new CD comes with an insert that discloses all the rules enforced by the DRM they included on the disc. Of course, these rules are only visible after you've paid for the CD and brought it home, and as the disc's rules say, "Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund," so if you don't like the rules, that's tough.

What are the other rules? Here are some gems: "This CD can't be burnt onto a CD or hard disc, nor can it be converted to an MP3" and "This CD may not play in DVD players, car stereos, portable players, game players, all PCs and Macintosh PCs." Best of all, the insert explains that this is all "in order for you to enjoy a high quality music experience." Now, that's quality.

I wonder how Coldplay feels about their fans getting all these rules set down for them by the music label? I wonder if most fans who read these rules will be wise enough to blame corporate, or whether they'll just decide to dig up a band whose label treats them like customers, not crooks? It's amazing how the labels always seem to come up with new ways of screwing artists: if they're not cheating them out of royalties, they're systematically alienating their fan-base.

Link

(via Digg)

[FreedomNeocon]

Actually reading a bit more, sounds like it uses blacklisting.

Much like the newer PC copy protection will detect 'fake' drives like daemontools or whatever (used to fake some protections... mount .iso images and make appear to be a burned cd in a drive, but actually just a program opening an .iso file)

Anyway, sounds like this blacklists any technology that might be used to rip the music. That is cd burners, hard drives, mp3 recorders or converters, and related technology.

Where it does run on Windows it installs the license file that it checks every time you listen to it, and if not found will not play (not sure if there is a limited '2 installs' per disk or if its infinate)

[PilloryHillary]

Cold Play's music is worse than the music one hears in an elevator. UGH.

[SunStar]

I've been listening to all of Coldplay's albums on my iPod for quite some time now... Whoops. (Well to be fair, I never had the opportunity to read their "rules", since I don't pay to listen to bands featuring political liberals.)

[Revolting cat!]

Next:

-ColdPlay gets dixiechicked,
-Gwyneth's fag boytoy stops bringing home tons of bacon,
-Gwyneth dumps loser fag boytoy.

[flada]

"Manufacturing defects" show up real quick under a heat gun.

[MikefromOhio]

hmmmm....

I guess they don't want anyone to buy it then....

[SunStar]

Does this mean I have to download it from iTunes?

No, eMule...

[July 4th]

The whole album was up on file sharing sites long before release. Just like every album.

If people are worried about music screwing up their computer, they should do the exact opposite of what they're told by the RIAA. By all means, go and download the album from a file sharing site or torrent, because the industry's stupid requirements and upgrades actually have a better chance of screwing up your machine than downloading the mp3. The mp3, only very rarely, contains some sort of virus. The upgrades toy with the registry, open holes in the OS, and make significant changes to a working system.

[Riverman94610]

Who or what is Coldplay?

[StoneColdTaxHater]

THey suck anyway, who gives a rat's arse?

[dennisw]

I might care if Coldplay made decent music but they don't

[rdax]

it's been sitting on usenet for a month at least

alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.complete_cd

multiple postings

[CzarNicky]

What's a Coldplay?

[steel_resolve]

Download the best BEST audio ripper on the Internet. It's name is Audacity

Next, play the cd in your computer, and run the program. It is a great ripper, and best of all, it's completely free.

[Mannaggia l'America]

I don't understand WHY they can't be played in Car stereos?

It doesn't say you can't - it's basically saying that it "might not work" in the car stereo - perhaps due to an incompatibility with the copy protection.

Although it does smell like a hoax to me...

[atomicpossum]

I'd bet my paycheck that someone will have converted the songs to MP3 within days. heck, I could probably do it myself - except I wouldn't bother with this boring band anyway.

Yep. You only need one person to beat it and share the results and it will propagate like the Plague (which is an apt analogy for Coldplay).

[MikefromOhio]

A hoax is something I didn't think about....

[FreedomNeocon]

In other news... Microsoft forgot to add copy protection for some games it was Demoing at E3 this year.

As a result copies of 'unprotected' xbox360 games were leaked and posted on usenet as well.

People are already working on 'mod chips' and ways to hack the xbox360 and copy games using those as their PRIMARY documentation.

Mostly E.European countries and HongKong and Thailand and all...

But the last generation of PS2/Xbox 'mod chip' industry was reported to be several million dollars, and Microsoft went and gave them 50% of the work done.

Anyway, point is... focus on doing whatever well.. good music, good games, good product. You'll come out ahead every time.

Otherwise, you can only hurt yourself wasting time, chasing ghosts, and making yourself insane, in a distracted mess of confusion, and a never-ending game of cat and mouse.

[mysterio]

Is it X/Y? That one plays just fine in my car. Or is it a newer one? I really like them. But I won't buy a cd that I can't make a backup of, because cds are junk.

The only album I would pay for that had stupid anti-copying crap on it is if Soundgarden got back together and put out a new album or something.

[IronJack]

I've got one simple rule: No Coldplay.