Anti-copying CDs up the copyright ante

Livewire ^ | March 28 2002 | Rod Easdown

[dead]

Major music labels have started releasing CDs that, they admit, might not play in all CD players. Actually they may not even be CDs, given the strict technical definitions laid down for the format by its inventors, Philips and Sony.

The new discs carry electronic measures designed to prevent them being played on computers. They contain errors in the signal that are not detected by most CD players but cause clicking and popping sounds when played in a computer. As a result, they can't be copied successfully to the computer's hard drive to be converted into a format for e-mailing or posting on the Internet, thereby infringing the recording company's copyright.

But the technology is far from trouble-free. CD players have been around for 20 years and there are thousands of different kinds. Some can't read the new discs. Some DVD players also have trouble with them.

That hasn't stopped BMG, Universal, Sony Music, EMI and Warner embracing the idea. They blame the 10 per cent drop in music sales in the US last year squarely on illegal copying. According to Philips, which refuses to have anything to do with the new discs, normal wear and tear could make such discs unplayable on older CD players, which could be overwhelmed by the errors. This has led to the odd situation where Sony Electronics, a manufacturer of CD players, is objecting to the technology that Sony Music is implementing. The company has released about 70 titles with the anti-copying measures, carrying the label: "Will not play on a PC/Mac."

Some consumers have found certain discs will play in the car but not on home equipment. Others have found the opposite. BMG was forced to drop copy protection on two CDs in Europe when buyers complained that they wouldn't play in CD players.

The general manager of copyright for Philips in the US, Gerry Wirtz, says he is worried the music companies didn't know what they were doing when they adopted the idea. Philips has warned that the discs do not conform to the specifications of the CD format and must bear labels warning consumers of this. They may not display the familiar compact disc symbol.

While the technology is not widespread, it is in use, mostly in Europe. In the US, Universal's More Music from the Fast and the Furious carries the warning: "Playback problems may be experienced. If you experience playback problems, return the disc for a refund." If you like the disc the only solution seems to be getting a CD player that will handle it.

Music companies may pay a high price for protecting their copyright - creating problems for customers is hardly good business. The website www.fatchucks.com carries a list of hundreds of CD titles it says carry copy protection and alleges that many carry no warnings at all. This has raised the concern of some rights activists and politicians in the US.

[dead]

Purposefully selling a corrupted product is the work of an anti-genius of marketing. Spectacular, jaw-dropping idiocy.

Goodbye massive music companies, I won't miss you.

[Still Thinking]

OTOH, I was on a thread yesterday about the new legislation from Fritz Hollings (D-Disney) has introduced which will mandate gang rape for any and all programmers who write code without government approved anti-piracy measures imbedded. Several freepers lambasted the studios for whining to government rather than trying to protect themselves. So in that sense I think this move is a positive sign.

I, for one would much rather contend with the entertainment industry than oppressive and counterproductive regulations produced by the one sector of society that's never proven their ability to product anything EXCEPT regulations.

[Revolting cat!]

Is there a name for this earth shattering invention? How about "swan song technology"?

[Wonder Warthog]

How much would anyone care to wager that some bright geek will develop software to automatically detect and delete the "clicks and pops" and generate a clean signal that CAN be converted and re-recorded?

[Lazamataz]

Purposefully selling a corrupted product is the work of an anti-genius of marketing. Spectacular, jaw-dropping idiocy.

LOTUS 123 tried something similar. They eventually realized that the copy protection they had engineered cost them more in support calls than pirated software would ever cost them.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Already been done. The Fast And The Furious soundtrack was supposed to be one of the first CDs released with the anti-copy technology in place. It was available for download a couple weeks ago - no clicks, no pops, nothing. Don't know what they did to get past it, and I didn't download it to listen to it, but apparently, whatever they did worked.

[js1138]

Ten percent drop? Wonder how far sales of non-Cds will drop.

Of course, on college campus, only one student needs to make one analog dub. The resulting copy will not be protected.

Actually, it's probably possible in most cases to make digital dub.

[doomtrooper99]

The "copy protected" cds are as smart as the video DIVX format, a type of the DVD that required a special player with the modem that informed the central computer about the disks you are playing and charged you every time you played them. Bunch of lawyers and Circuit City invented this format and actualluy tried to push it onto an unsuspecting public. The scheme bombed bad! Greed and stupidity are a combination that is deadly and amusing...

[newfreep]

The "protection" they have engineered into these CD's (and also the DVD-Audio hi-rez discs) have been shown to degrade the sonics. The record companies should look ijn the mirror and realize the drop in sales is due to the poor product quality - crap bands and crap music that the public is not buying. btw, Super Audio CD uses non-sonic degrading protection but you can still copy/burn the "normal" CD version on the SACD disks.

[white_wolf]

Frankly, the reason that music sales decreased 10% is that there is so little new music worth listening to. The dirty little secret of the modern music industry is that the solid bulk of music was still being purchased by the the folks who were teens in the late 50s through the 70s. They had the money, and music really meant something to them. Now, they are simply getting past the age where a lot of new music is interesting to them, leaving the music industry trying to sell to the Brittany Spears crowd, to whom music means little once they get past the hormones. You can see this is happening when modern "popular" artists resemble Playboy bunnies.

[Psycho_Bunny]

10 bucks says there's already a software fix for this at just about every audio-warez site on the net.

[dead]

I, for one would much rather contend with the entertainment industry than oppressive and counterproductive regulations produced by the one sector of society that's never proven their ability to product anything EXCEPT regulations.

Yes, company stupidity is less vile than government stupidy.

But the fact of the matter is that company’s should realize that the very small percentage of people who would pirate rather than buy are best just written off.

Sacrificing the good will of regular customers to stop a few thieves is not good business. I have 1600+ CDs, but I will not buy another until I can be assured that it is a “real CD”. And if some company slips one of these "protected" ones by me, I will not buy another product from them ever.

[Drew68]

They blame the 10 per cent drop in music sales in the US last year squarely on illegal copying.

Or it could be the result of a crappy product. Pre-packaged dime a dozen teeny-bopper pop tarts masquerading as musicians.

Nonetheless, there is a whole generation of kids out there who will never experience what it is like to actually have to pay for music and this has the execs scared whitless.

[Tennessee_Bob]

You've got a point there. Anymore these days, the CDs I buy are in the clearance bin because no one wants the music - except for me. None of the new "artists" appeal to me at all.

[tcostell]

I give the anti-copy protection crowd 2 months and a hack will be out for this technology.

[Snowy]

10 bucks says there's already a software fix for this at just about every audio-warez site on the net.

For kicks, I went on to Audiogalaxy and found the whole soundtrack. Should be completely downloaded in about 10 minutes. The music probably stinks, so it will be deleted. So much for copyright protection.

[boris]

One could, e.g., connect the output of a cheap player to your sound card, and using software such as Cool Edit, record a flawless audio stream into WAV or MP3 format.

Or am I missing something?

--Boris

[1Old Pro]

Fine with me, most "new" music sucks. I can think of hundreds of older CD's I'd rather make copies from.

[TexasRepublic]

I agree with you that our pop culture is a cesspool -- there is little new pop music on the radio that I can even relate to, and I'm more eclectic than anyone else I know. Bad music, protected discs -- I won't buy them. Good analog dubs are almost indistinguishable from digital dubs.