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Fighting Music Piracy with Glue

Posted by chrisd on from the morons-morons-morons dept.

Scott Granneman writes: "The New York Times (Free Blah-di-blah) is reporting that Epic Records, in an effort to prevent reviewers from creating mp3s or even playing the preview CD in anything they don't control, is not disseminating the new Pearl Jam and Tori Amos CDs inside Sony Walkman players that are glued shut. Oh yeah ... the headphones are glued to the players too, to prevent any authorized output. A low-tech answer to a high-tech issue."

36 of 590 comments (clear)

  1. From the article by alnapp · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I brought this discman home with me, and I found a way you could go in the back of the CD and, like, pop it open. So I got the actual disc out."

    So, they can't even use glue properly, its not wonder everything else has failed.

    --
    Get the EULA T-shirt
    1. Re:From the article by Virtex · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, it is a violation of the DMCA. It means that humans can now be declared as circumvention devices. In other words, being human is now illegal, and you can be thrown in jail for 20 years for it.

      If anyone asks, I'm not human. But I think my coworkers already knew that.

      --
      For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
  2. Ed. by dr_strang · · Score: 5, Informative

    Let me edit this to make it actually make some sense :

    "The New York Times (Free Blah-di-blah) is reporting that Epic Records, in an effort to prevent reviewers from creating mp3s or even playing the preview CD in anything they don't control, is now disseminating the new Pearl Jam and Tori Amos CDs inside Sony Walkman players that are glued shut. Oh yeah ... the headphones are glued to the players too, to prevent any unauthorized output. A low-tech answer to a high-tech issue."

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    1. Re:Ed. by OrangeSpyderMan · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, no, you don't understand. All Slashdot [posts/drivels]* are [reviewed/skimmed over]* by a group of [editors/blind chimps]* before appearing on the site - so they're all [high quality/riddled with mistakes]*, and guaranteed to be [of interest/reposts]* by the time they reach your [desktop/wastepaper basket]*

      *Delete as applicable

      --
      Try NetBSD... safe,straightforward,useful.
    2. Re:Ed. by lyonsden · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought it was apropos that the origional posting came from the morons-morons-morons department.

  3. Wire cutting by nick255 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ummmmm. I guess they must be assuming journalists are not engineers, as otherwise they could just cut the headphone wires and them connect them to their favourite input.

    1. Re:Wire cutting by ChrisJones · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then when reviewer returns the walkman with cut wires, Epic Records can ream them for being naughty pirates.

      --
      Chris "Ng" Jones
      cmsj@tenshu.net
      www.tenshu.net
    2. Re:Wire cutting by mpe · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess they must be assuming journalists are not engineers, as otherwise they could just cut the headphone wires and them connect them to their favourite input.

      Thus making wire cutters illegal under the DMCA :)

    3. Re:Wire cutting by isorox · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thus making wire cutters illegal under the DMCA :)

      I always use my teeth to strim wires - are they illegal too?

    4. Re:Wire cutting by ChrisJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well if they don't want them returned, wtf is the point of glueing the player shut? you could easily just cut it open and take the CD out. I would have thought it would actually make more sense, and be cheaper, to put the single onto a tiny device with a $10 mp3 decoder in it, so there physically isn't anything to remove, or any way to remove the track without some serious hardware debugging.
      Of course sanity and media companies are rarely found together ;)

      --
      Chris "Ng" Jones
      cmsj@tenshu.net
      www.tenshu.net
    5. Re:Wire cutting by Skapare · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You don't even need to cut the wires. You can just put a coil around the earpieces or the wires leading to the earpieces and pick up the content inductively. Most journalists won't know that, but it only takes one leak :-)

      --
      now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  4. Other ideas to ensure they're not distributed by Brento · · Score: 5, Funny

    Use those greeting cards that play a tune when you open them.

    Pay Tori to personally visit each reviewer with a guitar and play her songs.

    Distribute the songs in Ogg Vorbis format. (rimshot)

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?
    1. Re:Other ideas to ensure they're not distributed by jeremyp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Better idea: she uses a different instrument for each reviewer. That way, when a ripped off mp3 appears of her playing her new album accompanied by a trombone you can figure out which reviewer leaked the song.

      (Don't ask me how Tori Amos plays a trombone and sings at the same time - I'm an ideas man).

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  5. Wow! by morie · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm gonna start reviewing CD's. Can't make a living with my reviews, but sure can use the extra income from the unglued diskmans I sell.

    --
    Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
  6. And of course the headphones... by leomekenkamp · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...would just have to be glued to your ears to prevent someone else from listening to it.

    --
    Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
  7. So don't review it by mccalli · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Return the thing unreviewed then, siting 'technical difficulties'.

    Presumably other artists' CDs are put through the reviewers' own systems, set up the way they like them. Just say a fair comparison is impossible without putting these new CDs through that same system.

    Of course, if you're feeling vindictive, you could always slate them instead...

    Cheers,
    Ian

  8. This idea should be taken to it's logical end ... by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... by glueing the earphones to the ears of the reviewers. Disposable reviewers will be needed, though.

    --

    ---
    "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
  9. Reminds me of Nintendo's tactics... by I+Love+this+Company! · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back in the day of the original NES (and even today, I presume), Nintendo used to send a rep to the magazine reviewing the game, and he carried a system with the game bolted inside and sat there while the game was being reviewed, and the whole package was whisked away when the their time was up. Sounds like the record companies are taking a page from the gaming industry's playbook.

    --

    "All art is quite useless." -- Oscar Wilde
  10. Hammer = Copyright Circumvention Device = Banned by femto · · Score: 5, Funny

    So is hitting the walkman with a hammer an offence under the DMCA...?

  11. Not the first time this has been done. by Andy+Smith · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has been done before. In 1998, preview copies of Radiohead's album "OK Computer" were sent out in sealed cassette players. And in 2000, preview copies of "Kid A" were sent out in an encrypted format on Sony VAIO digital players.

    More info: http://www.followmearound.com/press/083.html

    1. Re:Not the first time this has been done. by turgid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Kid A was sent out encrypted? Ah, that explains it then.

      --
      Stick Men
  12. self destruct mechanism by z_gringo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now, they just need to develop something that destroys the disc, if you happen to force the cover open or remove the Headphone jack.

    --
    -- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
  13. Reviewing these CDs... by hattig · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So they are expected to review the CD's through headphones from a walkman?

    Doesn't that just strike people as being stupid? How will they get a subjective review of the audio quality? Are the music companies trying to hide poor audio quality from the reviewers by making them review the music through sub-optimal equipment?

    This is just a sad example of how paranoid the music companies have become...

  14. Re:Bad Idea by Stephen+VanDahm · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Put it on something that can't be digitally extracted."

    8-tracks, baby!

  15. The future of music reviewing... by Cl1mh4224rd · · Score: 4, Funny

    "In an effort to prevent reviewers from creating MP3s or even playing the preview CD in anything they don't control, music labels are now disseminating a prewritten review of the CD, along with a bill for $17.99."

    --
    People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
  16. Why not digital? by gvonk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I want to know why a solid-state mp3 player couldn't be used? They could just build their own and put the songs in ROM and just have no input. Kinda like those little "tiger beat" or whatever players that just play Britney Spears and you can get them at McDonald's.

    I imagine building a custom player with built-in earbuds and only one album on it would be cheaper than this dumb glue thing.

    --


    El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
  17. Gravity by LinuxGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    In this case, I'm sure that a decent lawyer could successfully argue that gravity could be used to circumvent the 'glue lock'. My reading of the DMCA text leads me to think that any device or method used for circumvention is illegal. Dropping the unit would be a method. Hmm, guilty of dropping the unit? Then jail time for you. I would not want to accept such a liability for a simple review.

    --

    Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
  18. Been done before by spakka · · Score: 5, Funny

    I noticed that certain pages in my friend's twat magazines were glued together, presumably to prevent unauthorised copying.

  19. The latest in IP circumvention by spongman · · Score: 4, Funny
    wire-stippers.

    what is the world coming to?

  20. Maybe I'm missing the point... by chegosaurus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But if you number each player, send them out, and expect them to be returned, then by identifying the missing or broken players you could pretty much work out who it was that smashed their player open and put the music on P2P.

    Isn't that why they do it?

  21. When I said they could stick their CDs, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... they obviously misunderstood.

  22. Wave of Future by 4of12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, my TiVo has recordings of copyrighted media inside of it, and it's likewise pretty hard, though not impossible, to get it out in perfect digital fidelity for archiving on other devices or to play on different players.

    I expect to see more of this in the future as hardware prices continue to slide. Media will become more and more locked into a particular device one way or another. Your next CD player could well require an Access card in it to enable it to play the latest CDs.

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
  23. Why just cut the wires? by alispguru · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Open player with your favorite screwdriver/utility knife.

    2. Remove CD. Rip, mix, burn.

    3. Replace CD in player.

    4. Back over player and headphones with your car.

    5. Return electronic crumbs to Epic Records in plastic bag, claiming you "dropped it".

    Problem solved...

    --

    To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
  24. Has nothing to do with copy protection by nhavar · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's pearl jam and tori amos, the record companies are just admitting that with a walkman that's as good as it's ever going to sound. Plus they're sending a nice little signal that if you listen to such music don't bother the people around you with it (use headphones). :)

    --
    "Do not be swept up in the momentum of mediocrity." - anon
  25. What about Quality? by asv108 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm no music reviewer, but it seems to me if I were to review a new album, I would want to listen to the CD on the best stereo I have access to, not a little crappy discman with $5 headphones.

  26. This is not realistically a DMCA issue... by Tom7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You should read the DMCA more carefully. The device has to be primarily designed for circumvention, and must not have any other commercially significant uses. Also, it would probably be hard to argue that glue is a "technological measure" as defined in the DMCA.

    The DMCA is a bad law, and I know you guys are half joking, but blowing it out of proportion like this I think does our cause disservice. Actually understanding what it makes illegal, and being able to hold intelligent conversations about it's implications -- that's what helps us.