Copy-Protected CDs Going Mainstream

bmarklein writes "According to this CNET article, Arista is going to start shipping copy-protected CDs in volume. Looks like the discs will include DRM'd Windows Media files in the second session. No mention of which titles will be affected, but Arista is the home of Santana, Whitney Houston, Pink, TLC and Kenny G."

Comments

fuckum

[dh003i]

You want to copy their music? Play it in CD-ROM on computer (or in portable CD player), plug into output sound, tell recorder to directly record digital output. Encode. Share.

Only Windows affected?

[DopeRider]

I don't know this means that people will stop listening to "illegal" music or they'll stop using Windows to listen music.

There're a lot of Linux users that keep a Windows box for games. In the future some Windows users could want a Linux box (maybe a barebones) for media.

Re:Kenny G ...

[Peterus7]

Well, it'd be risky if they started copy protecting any music that is popular amoung the geek population... Say, linkin park (I'm making an extrapolation. If you hate it, sorry.) or something? Don't you think it would be dangerous...

Japan

[greggman]

Here in Japan, Massive Attack's latest release was DRMed. I don't know if it was in the states.

The funny thing is, in Japan, your can rent music. In fact Tsutaya, the Blockbuster video of Japan, rents music (CD) at all their stores and even crazier, they sell black CDs and MDs at the counter! :-p

two copies?

[TerraFrost]

SunnComm recently struck a deal with Microsoft to work together on a package of copy-protection techniques for labels. The smaller company will protect the ordinary CD audio tracks against copying, while Microsoft will provide tools to put additional copy-protected versions of the songs on the CD that can be copied to a computer hard drive or MP3 player but not traded online.

This so-called second session, containing files that can be used by computer music aficionados but not widely distributed, has come to be a key goal for the labels.

based on these lines, it looks as if they're going to have two versions of every song? that no doubt means that there will be fewer songs on some CD's... or perhapes will have really low bitrate versions for the computer, to save space... except that these versions will also sound crappy, due to their low bitrate.

and i guess people without constant internet connections are going to be a little screwed, since, afaik, all microsoft's drm techiniques involve some sort of online interaction with a remote server. that kinda alienates half the population right there...

It can be Encrypted and Decrypted

[I-R-Baboon]

1.) This is going to be an excuse to jack up the already obnoxious price of CDs

2.) If it can be encrypted it can be decrypted...what makes them think that this time crackers will just roll over and not break this copyright protection? I dont think a small band of corporate code jockies will forever outsmart a determined community.

3.) There are always alternatives, they can spend years locking, bricking up, chaining, securing the main door and not accomplish anything with the back door, side doors, and windows left wide open.

4.) Alternatives will provide new rips anyway and what have they then accomplished except...see point 1.

Anybody know where I can get some toilet paper with DMCA on it?

Do they really think this will work?

[dracol1ch]

My question to the Slashdotters is this:

Is the music industry really so dumb as to think that hardware and software solutions will really ever work?

Think of it this way, software companies have been trying for years to copy protect their software. They've gone rapidly through overburned CDs, hardware dongles, encrypted CD verification. Sony even masked Playstation discs so that they could leave sections of the CDs blank as a sort of key. None of it has worked yet. What makes record labels think that they're immune?

Of course, don't get me wrong. The more time they spend on pointless hardware and software solutions the more time they divert from their likely more effective political attempts.

Re:Don't call them CDs

[PhxBlue]

And in the meantime, the enemy's already thought of an alternative name: enhanced CD.

Ohh, the doublespeak. Ohh, the irony! . . .oh, well, I had better things to do with my money anyway.

Buy them, then return them as unplayable...

[farrellj]

On your CD Player...your computer.

Returns rip the heart out of Music profits...

ttyl
Farrell

Bought One Recently

[decefett]

I've bought very few CD's in the last couple of years (note: I'm a 56k'er so I don't use file sharing). I have however ripped my 300+ CD collection to mp3's.

2 weeks ago I bought Norah Jones as an impulse purchase, after listening to it once I proceeded to rip it and found that it was "Copy Controlled(tm)". The cover had a logo indicating this but I didn't see it when I was in the store. By using a different CDROM drive in another PC I was able to rip it no problems. That however, is not the point.

After spending $30AUD I've got better things to do with my time than fsck around with DRM.

In the same purchase I also bought the new (un-copy controlled) Aimee Mann album, guess who's going to be getting my money in the future and who won't?