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The Bride Of Macrovision
Marty writes: "Coming soon to a CD near you, Safeaudio, the Bride of Macrovision. Those wonderful people at Macrovision, who brought us such wonderful technological innovations as, well, macrovision copy protection on VHS tapes, is now taking a stab at the CD market with a new scheme called Safeaudio. The press release about the beta test can be seen here, which I found initially on Stereophile. It's designed to prevent copying of audio CDs to a CD-R (no technical details are given). Might as well get rid of that whole pesky fair use provision of copyright law, right? After all, according to Macrovision, "We believe that SAFEAUDIO provides an opportunity for the music industry to regain the billions of dollars lost to unauthorized casual copying." Better we all buy multiple copies of the same CD so we can keep one in the car, one at work, one at home so the music corporations can regain their rightful billions that we've stolen by making personal copies or compilation CDs for our own use."
This is true, but it also requires specialized hardware to be in the VCR and TV.
Macrovision Primer:
Automatic Gain Control: an automatic system for adjusting the amplification of a signal so that the output is at a standard level. This allows input signal variances to be compensated so that the TV displays consistently between sources. May be "fast" (responds quickly to change in signal level, similar to a "peak" level meter) or "slow" (responds to sloweer changes, like an "average" level meter"). TV's have slow AGC, VCR's have fast.
A frame of TV has several components. It contains a timing (sync) pulse, a threshold (black level, a baseline used by the AGC to determine what voltage corresponds to "black"), and the actual data being conveyed. Macrovision is a system of rapidly changing the black level, thus confusing a fast AGC and rendering the signal unwatchable, while (theoretically) leaving slow AGC's unaffected (as they respond to the average black level, not the instantaneous). By confusing the fast AGC of the VCR, the signal is deteriorated to the point where it is unwatchable. This system is augmented in newer equipment by Macrovision hardware, present in all newer VHS equipment (as required by JVC, the holder of the VHS license). 8mm does not have Macrovision circuitry, and is not affected by Macrovision; in this, it is like the "A" in the D2A2D of the previous post; however, when copying to 8mm, the Macrovision stays on the signal, it just doesn't manifest itself until copied back to VHS (i.e. the 8mm is a carrier, not affected by the disease).
If this new system can be implemented in such a way as to take advantage of differing signal properties of recording and playback equipment (note: most recording units do have different AGC's than most playback units), the system could conceivably work; this is unlikely, though, because TV signals carry information that is never viewable (by design); analog audio signals are pure signal, with no extraneous information. The best bet for such a system in audio would be to make a deal with the license holders for various recording technologies, and get the license holders to mandate the anti-copy hardware, the same way Macrovision is currently handled. This would likely result in a situation similar to the one with Macrovision, where old equipment becomes desirable specifically to circumvent copy prevention. Everything old is new again :-).
For a much better explanation of Macrovision, as well a plausible (read: I haven't tested it, but it looks reasonable) Macrovision remover, check out Antti Paarlahti's page here. Another Macrovision remover, this one using PIC's, can be found on Andrew McCubbin's page here
Hope this is useful to somebody!
"Make it ten--I am only a poor corrupt official."
--Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Casablanca
Could somebody please mirror the crack for SafeAudio?? :)
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Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: Screw you, Dave!
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
Yes, there is a vocal contingent of anti-intellectual property folks out there who want nothing more than to see all copyrights fade away.
But there also a bunch of us moderate folks who are annoyed that we're being stopped from doing things we have every legal right to do, through the power of these media companies.
If I buy a CD, I can do with it whatever I want, for my own use. I can copy it onto tape so I can listen to it in my car, since I don't have a CD player in my car. I can burn it into MP3s so I can have a 1000-song jukebox in my PC. I can make another CD copy of it, so I can archive my original and not lose anything when the CD gets scratched (which does happen, this isn't a weird "what if" scenario).
The recording industry knows these things are perfectly legal, but they are so greedy they are willing to sacrifice our ability to do these perfectly legal things to secure for themselves a few more dollars.
Not representing or approved by my company or anybody else.
Imagine the new revenue opportunities for the recording industry as you check out of Best Buy:
Sales clerk: Now we just have a few questions before we can sell you Tupac's Greatest Hits. First, will this CD be for home, office, auto or portable use?
Purchaser: Well, I guess mostly for home. But I'll probably listen to it in the car too.
Sales clerk: Oh, then you'll want our enterprise license. It'll allow you full locational use rights. Do you ever have passengers in your car?
Purchaser: Well yea. Sometimes.
Sales clerk: OK. We'll mark you down for the 10 seat license expansion. As you may be aware, CD media is subject to wear and tear and replacement can be expensive. Would you like the optional RIAA replacement warranty, allowing you to obtain a replacement CD should this one become damaged, for only an additional $9.95?
Purchaser: Err... I guess so.
Sales clerk: Fine. That brings your total to $43.45, not including sales tax. They'll ring this up front for you.
*scoove*
"RIAA: Revenue Increase Absent Artists"
The problem isn't that people (well, at least me) think that the music industry should be able to defend their rights. I for one, would be happy to see Napster shut down... What I object to is that they try to take away my legal rights to fair use, etc. under the guise of "protecting their intellectual property". That is what this technology does (or claims to do -- I am skeptical that it works). Almost no illegal uses of CDs will be prevented by this, and many, many cases of fair use copying will be prevented. That why the RIAA is evil.
I used to chase hi-end audio till it drove me to the poorhouse. it was a never ending quest to get that perfect reproduction of music.
then came mp3. it taught us that content was usually more important than raw audiophile quality. at least as long as the audio was listenable; which with good mp3 encoders, it is.
so how does that relate to this story? well, if we have to start making copies by going via the analog domain instead of purely digital, then so be it. that used to be a big no-no, but with the widespread acceptance of mp3 and its lower quality sound, a regular old analog-to-analog copy (actually, digital, analog, analog, digital) doesn't look so bad anymore.
there is no standard on earth, imaginable or real that can prevent an analog copy (since you have to be able to LISTEN to it at some point) from working.
so far the music industry has declared war on its own customers. do they think we'll just take it sitting down? restrict our LEGAL right to make personal-use copies and not only do you risk litigation and more black-eyes but we consumers will always find a workaround to your madness. and angering us will only persuade us to NEVER line your pockets with our spare change ever again. create an enemy in us and you'll go poor sooner than if you had just let us use the music as currently allowed by law!
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."