Beastie Boys Respond to DRM Claims

An anonymous reader notes that the Beastie Boys have responded to claims that their new album is DRM-crippled; their response is that the US and UK versions aren't crippled, and the DRM software is only installed in RAM, not on disk. See our previous story for background.

Comments

Cognitive Dissonance?

[Defiler]

A) No software is permanently installed on your hard disk.
B) Check install.log on your hard disk for details.
Haha.
*weep*

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[pimpin apollo]

Yeah exactly, this is utterly insane. It's not about stopping internet 'piracy', it's pretty clear that ripping the disc is feasible; it's about making it a pain to put into itunes or whatever... so then you buy it off itunes instead of messing with it. It's like rebuying all of your records on CD. The record industry didn't forget that this is the only reason they stayed afloat in the 90s. Perhaps that's an indication that there's a bloated supply side?

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[MoonBuggy]

"The copy protection system used for all EMI/Capitol releases including "To the 5 Boroughs" is Macrovision's CDS-200, which sets up an audio player into the users RAM" seems to contradict the statement that "CDS-200 does not install software applications of ANY KIND on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based, meaning that it is dependent on the physical properties and the format of the CD. None of the copy protection in CDS-200 requires software applications to be loaded onto a computer."

If none of the copy protection requires software applications to be loaded, why does the very same article say that it sets up an audio player in RAM?

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[ringbarer]

You've gotta FIGHT!
For your RIGHT!
To Ppprrrroooo-fit!

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[ASkGNet]

Imagine, what if the said player is inadvertedly (perhaps via user opening a memory hog program, such as one of Adobe's fine products) swapped to hard drive of the aforementioned user. Would that qualify as hard drive installation, since it obviously does modify data on the user's hard drive

And as a recent article showed, data in swap can remain there for many years, unoverwritten.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[nzkbuk]

Because their version of loaded doesn't match everyone else's version of loaded.

They think loaded = installed
everyone else thinks loaded = run

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Anonymous Coward]

They think loaded = installed
everyone else thinks loaded = run
I think loaded = drunk, stoned

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[BroncoInCalifornia]

If none of the copy protection requires software applications to be loaded, why does the very same article say that it sets up an audio player in RAM?

"We installed DRM software into RAM but we did not install it onto the computer"

"I smoked pot, but I did not inhale."

"I did not have sex with that woman."

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[krel]

Yes, this is RIAA stupidity, but it has nothing to do with making people buy their music again if they want to play it on their computers. The RIAA doesn't recognize that there are people who legitimately want to play music on their computers, and they're feebly trying everything they comprehend to stop real piracy.
Online music is mere peanuts to the record industry; the suits want to stop piracy, even if they don't understand how to.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[karmatic]

The disk uses 2 different TOCs (similar to multi-session). Computers (in general) load the second one, and the audio players load the first. The second one contains encrypted tracks, and a player to play them. It makes some ripping tools have a harder time.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[pimpin apollo]

They do recognize that people want to play music on their computers. That's why they build players into these cds, which is the point of this entire topic. The recognize that where there's demand there's a market but the market is unforunately (for them) blocked by that pesky Constitution. The betamax case created legitmacy for time/shape shifting and now the goal is to roll back what amounts to competition.

I think the end goal is to create a new business model around pay-per-play. This is how they already view their 'property'. The fact that it's physically contained on DVDs and CDs is a messy necessity. But as we become more intellectually divorced from that view of property we start to see it as their intellectual property and not our physical property. Blocking the main competition through the DMCA DRM combo is hand in hand with this strategy.

don't kid yourself into thinking the riaa just doesn't get it... what's scarier than them not getting it is that they do get it and they're using that against us

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Graff]

it's about making it a pain to put into itunes or whatever... so then you buy it off itunes instead of messing with it. It's like rebuying all of your records on CD.

Uh, if you are buying the album and you're going to rip it to iTunes why not just buy it from the iTunes Music Store in the first place? Then you only need to buy it once.

The real reason they are doing this is not to encourage you to buy your music multiple times or in a certain place. They are doing this to make it a pain for casual users to copy and distribute the songs. Sure they won't stop the hard-core techs from ripping the songs but they probably figure that if they stop the majority of people from being able to trade music then that's good enough. One problem with that notion is that it only takes 1 tech person to rip an album, the rest of humanity can leech off of the tech's efforts and download like crazy.

It's not enough to make it difficult to rip music and trade it. You either need to make it impossible to do or forget about stopping it. To me it makes much more sense to just make it insanely easy to get cheap, legal music. That way the free music isn't so much easier of an option than the bought music.

People will buy their music as long as the price is right and the barrier to obtaining the music is simple enough. Just look at the success of the iTunes Music Store. Keep lowering the prices of the songs there and continue to make buying simple and the music purchases will continue to grow.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[elemental23]

"I did not have sex with that woman."

I think that goes without saying if you're posting to Slashdot.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, if you are buying the album and you're going to rip it to iTunes why not just buy it from the iTunes Music Store in the first place? Then you only need to buy it once.

Because he wants the CD contents and all, and have the option of listening to it on a lower resolution computer based format.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[usrusr]

"Uh, if you are buying the album and you're going to rip it to iTunes why not just buy it from the iTunes Music Store in the first place?"

erm, maybe because i trust my cd shelf a little bit more than i trust my computer? i trust my computer a lot, but since any event that would fukc up my cd shelf would kill my computer as well, and the opposite is not true, i know where my preferences are.

and then comes all the hassle in case you some day feel like you want some "alternative-ipod" even if it is just itms taking all your legitimately bought songs hostage to make you buy a possibly over-priced future generation ipod. just look at what sony does with their mem-stick. in case of a cd that is compatible with a cd player i know at least that i can get proper copies with all the hassle, getting past a drm solution either involves software more illegal than an spdif cable (or good converters..) or recoding, or both.

(on the ceap&legal point, i certainly agree with you. but honestly, i don't see that anywhere, do you?)

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[sevinkey]

Many of the major labels don't exactly get it. Working for a DRM company, it has been very interesting to see exactly how distant these folks are from reality. They are uninformed of exactly what the people want, and that people are willing to pay a fair price for a fair product. They tend to base all of their decisions off the buying habits of teenagers (probably not THAT bad of an idea) and have somewhat of a grasp on the technology that was available for protecting content in the late 90's.

I don't see them selling pay-per-play. Subscription services, maybe and probably, but I think the free-market's gonna kill the pay-per-play idea.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[The Iconoclast]

"Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction."

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Graff]

I bought it from the iTunes store, only to find that I can't burn it to CD to listen to it anywhere else, so it's stuck in iTunes or my iPod. Now while I can see the point here, I was under the impression that you could burn a CD x times using iTunes. Not true.

As another poster has said, you can certainly burn iTMS tracks to CD. In fact you can burn them to CD both as the original data files and as the AIFF format found on regular music CDs. You can burn a playlist 7 times after which you can just create a new playlist and burn 7 more times, repeat as you like.

ALL songs downloaded from iTMS have the exact same license. There is none of this crap that some music distrubutors have where song x has these limitations and song y has different limitations.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Graff]

Because he wants the CD contents and all, and have the option of listening to it on a lower resolution computer based format.

The files in the iTMS were ripped from the masters using professional gear and software. This fact, along with the AAC encoding, makes it so that a 128 kbit AAC encoded music file from iTMS is much higher quality than a 128 kbit MP3 file ripped from a CD.

In fact, the iTMS music files sound damn close in quality to what you are getting on CD. Sure it may sound a little different than the song found on a CD but that doesn't mean it lost quality. Both the CD-audio and the AAC-audio introduce some artifacts simply due to the nature of digital formats and encoding.

As for other content, such as album covers and art, you get the artwork as part of your download from iTMS. If you look in iTunes there is an option to view the artwork for a song or for an album.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Graff]

i trust my cd shelf a little bit more than i trust my computer? ...
then comes all the hassle in case you some day feel like you want some "alternative-ipod"

iTunes has a way to archive your music fairly easily. Create a playlist with the music you want to archive and burn a data CD or DVD with it. It will burn all of your files to a CD or DVD as AAC files which you can then put in a safebox somewhere.

As for the alternative music players you can easily convert the iTunes AAC files to some other format by burning a music CD and re-ripping to the format you want or by using one of the open source converters that have popped up. It's fairly simple and then your music is in whatever format you need.

Sure, its a bit of a hassle as you mentioned but then again it's cheaper than buying both a CD and the iTunes songs as the parent poster was talking about.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Ilgaz]

Tell me how do I buy from iTunes music store as a guy from Istanbul?

I guess you are american. CIA unearthed an amazing conspiracy, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

See? There are indeed other countries than USA on planet. :)

I am already mad to RIAA not Apple since they don't allow a worldwide shop. Its amazing...

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[mcpkaaos]

"Iraq sponsored al Qaeda"

"Afghanistan sponsored al Qaeda"

"The Saudi royals are our friends"

"We are already at peak oil production"

"Bush can almost always spell his own name on the first try"

This *is* a fun game! :)

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[Sandman1971]

That's all fine and dandy if you don't mind having to buy/.burn it again in a few years...

Current burnt CDs have a shelflife of about 2-3 years (I'va had some go after a year). A pressed CD lasts 20+ years (I have 18 yr old pressed CDs that still play flawlessly). SO the burning scenario just doesn't cut it.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[jglazer75]

"Uh, if you are buying the album and you're going to rip it to iTunes why not just buy it from the iTunes Music Store in the first place? Then you only need to buy it once."

Why? Because maybe I don't want a file that has the iTunes (or Napster or MusicMatch or whatever) restrictions on it. I just want a 256kbps MP3 file to go along with the other 50GB of 256kbps MP3 files that I have on my harddrive.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[maximilln]

I think the end goal is to create a new business model around pay-per-play
Absolutely. They've realized that all of us entering our 30s aren't going to buy many new CDs and they're still trying to milk us for every last drop they can get. We were the ones that loaded up on import singles from England at $25/pop over the last ten years. The new generation of teenagers doesn't care about remixes because they already have a million of them (kindly supplied by us). We were the generation that put the money into the remix movement. What thanks do we get for it? None. Only the proposition to BOHICA.

don't kid yourself into thinking the riaa just doesn't get it... what's scarier than them not getting it is that they do get it and they're using that against us
I've been saying this for years. Not just about the RIAA, but about any powerful political entity from individual senators up to entire governing bodies. I usually get shouted down for being a paranoid hippie freak.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance?

[CrosbieFitch]

Good points parent.

However, whilst the RIAA may wish to move to an IP based world where users never actually get their grubby hands on music, but are merely licensed to have the privilege of listening to it...

There will be another world, similar to one that slashdotters know so well, i.e. the 'open source' equivalent of music. This will be music that explicitly permits people to copy it, remix it, and sell it with added value (packaging, liner notes, etc.).

We're heading for polarisation:
1) Heavily locked down IP/music with draconian enforcement.
2) Free music.

On the one hand the wealthy plebs will simply pay their subscriptions and have music on demand, enjoying plenty of convenience, and on the other, the music geeks will file share the free music until the cows come home.

The question is, which market will musicians go to in order to build up their audience? Perhaps some will make their initial music free in order to virally market themselves, but once their audience is at a critical mass they'll switch over to iTunes et al...?

So What?

[cr0y]

I don't care where its installed. If I am not notified when its installed. Its illegal. I think Symantec should start lumping this crap in with viruses and trojans.

Re:So What?

[Scoria]

If computer viruses are released by a well-funded, "reputable" organization, then they become recognized as benevolent anti-piracy software.

Interesting.

Re:So What?

[That's Unpossible!]

I wasn't aware that this program installs itself, then replicates by copying itself into other programs.

Malware, maybe. Virus/Worm/Trojan? Nope.

Re:So What?

[Lord Kano]

Virus/Worm/Trojan? Nope.

Trojan, yes. All that is required for a trojan is that it masquerades as something else (music) and causes an undesired effect (enforcement of DRM).

This is definitely a trojan.

LK

Re:So What?

[Corydon76]

Virus/Worm/Trojan? Nope.

Actually, Trojan is exactly right. A Trojan Horse is a program which has an unintended payload and may or may not contain self-propagation code.

Any program which installs itself on your computer without your consent would, in fact, be a Trojan, by definition.

You are, of course, correct in that it is neither a virus nor a worm. People seem to forget that the reason there are three names is that these are three distinct classes of malware.

Re:So What?

[whereiswaldo]

It's a Trojan.

What they need to do to come clean is pop up a dialog when you insert the CD that says "Click OK to install Digital Restriction Management software on your computer. This is required to play the CD on your computer. Click Cancel to quit without playing the CD"

Re:So What?

[quantum bit]

This is required to play the CD on your computer.

Even that would be a lie. If it plays in a CD player, it will play fine in a CD-ROM drive in analog mode.

Re:So What?

[Cryogenes]

How can a program notify you of anything before it even loads itself into RAM?

Nearly every game or application CD for Windows loads a program into RAM the moment you put it in the drive. I never heard of any company being sued for this.

Re:So What?

[kasperd]

I think Symantec should start lumping this crap in with viruses and trojans.

They most certainly should. But somehow I don't think they are going to do that. So what can you do about it? If you have legally purcased Symantec Antivirus (or whatever their product is called) and a trojaned CD, then maybe you should inform Symantec about their product not warning you about the trojan. And stop buying Symantec's products, if they don't want to fix it.

No "vaporware" is installed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Installing Vaporware? Good to know that the person who wrote that article has no clue what he/she is talking about.

Re:No "vaporware" is installed?

[bakawally]

Damn. I was hoping that DNF would get installed.

Re:No "vaporware" is installed?

[Keifer]

Then what do you call that Half-Life 2 beta which "my friend" installed?

Does it work on Linux?

[thenextpresident]

I live up in Montreal, Canada, and I was actually at a store yesterday, and went to buy their CD, until I noticed the big text on the CD saying it was copy-protected. Anyways, I looked on the back, and it said it only ran on Windows or Mac. So, in the end, I didn't buy the CD because of that big text saying it was copy-protected.

Will the CD play on Linux? I am all for buying their CD, but I will NOT buy a CD I can't play at work or at home.

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[Epistax]

Did you know that you can take your CD Rom, only plug in the power supply (no IDE), and if the cd rom isn't crap (if it has more than one button, unlike my current one, and has a headphone jack) you can play the CD? Again, that's without the connect to the computer at all. I did this back home for fun since I had an extra power supply. (The supply didn't require a motherboard connection to turn on.)

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[Pakaran2]

It depends if it relies on things that CD-ROM drives don't correct for, such as slightly invalid formats.

If it uses autoplay to install a driver, Linux, which doesn't support autoplay and couldn't run a windoze driver if it wanted to, will have no problem. It'd be like trying to use dutch elm disease against soldiers.

Also, keep in mind that (no duh) the Linux drivers for IDE devices are written completely separately from the Windows ones, and have different vulnerabilities (and if they have the same vunerabilities, then fine, I'll wait 3 days, emerge sync && emerge -uD world && genkernel all && emerge nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx hotplug emu10k1 and I'm all set).

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[fermion]

A similiar thing happened to me about a year ago. I was at a house concert with an indie band. I was ready to buy thier CD until I say some crap about Windows compatibility on the back. I don't know if it was DRM, and didn't really waste my time asking. I put it back and saved my money for the indie bands that distribute standard compliant CD.

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[TwistedSquare]

I recently bought a CD labelled as copy protected. When I inserted it into a Windows PC it installed its own little player. Fine I thought, and just ripped it to mp3 (no point making the CD-ROM spin all day). Then as an experiment I copied the CD. I also played it fine in my hi-fi. I fail to see quite how it was "copy-protected".

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[sjwaste]

Uh, did you ever stop and think it was an enhanced CD? You know, music tracks at the beginning and usually some video files at the end that you can access in a computer? A lot of bands release those, in fact a whole lot more release those than a CD with DRM. It's one thing to make a conscious decision to not buy copy protected things, but come on, take off your tinfoil hat, the damn thing was likely not copy protected. For one, name me an indie label that has implemented DRM. Mod me down to hell for this, but the ignorance in some cases (this one) is amazing.

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[WhiteBandit]

I'm not really down with music cd's automatically downloading stuff to my computer. I have many other audio players that will play the CD fine, thanks!

Would turning off the autorun feature in Windows prevent stuff like this from happening? I keep it turned off since I find the windows automatically popping up to be an annoyance, especially if I just want to explore the files on the CD. :P

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[GMFTatsujin]

Yes. Yes it does.

On my Gentoo box, I ran Grip 3.2, and everything extracted flawlessly. There's no static, skipping, or any other hijinx going on here. It rips and encodes fine.

If you're asking "will it play under a cd-playing app instead of a ripping app," then I couldn't tell you. I go straight to rip'n'archive mode.

There is a data track on the CD -- perhaps there's some other goodies on it like wallpaper or whatever that you can only get to on a Win/Mac, but I'm not in it for that. I just want the tunes.

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[PhrostyMcByte]

You can get past the mobo requirement of most PSUs by shorting the green wire with a black wire.

Re:Does it work on Linux?

[bluness]

Be careful about doing this on modern power supplies, some power supplies can be damaged if there is no load(something drawing power), or not enough of a load on the supply.

No vaporware!

[Mold]

This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC.

I'm so glad they're not installing vaporware on my machine! Phew! I was worried for a bit there.

Re:No vaporware!

[mog007]

It's to qwell the rumours that 3DRealms would be bundling DNF on the new CD. Seriously.

Re:No vaporware!

[MBCook]

I'm so glad they're not installing vaporware on my machine!

There were going to... but it wasn't ready yet. *rimshot*

Vaporware?

[DeepHurtn!]

"This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC."

Since when was anyone accusing them of using software that doesn't exist? Wouldn't we all be happy if all new spyware turned out to be vaporware?

So..

[t_allardyce]

Are they admitting themselves that the DRM is totally crap and easily by-passed and that most rippers will easily be able to get this on the P2P networks thus defeating the entire purpose of the system because now only clue-less users will be stopped by it and its mainly these clue-less users who wish to honestly copy the CD for fair-use reasons?

This is not a cd then

[cove209]

Can they call this a cd then? Does it conform to red book standards?

Re:This is not a cd then

[Pakaran2]

I don't think you can trademark an abbreviation, or common noun - hence George Eastmasn couldn't trademark "film" and Intel couldn't trademark processor numbers.

As such, calling it a CD - compact disc - is fine, since it's a disc that's smaller than a record. I think the trademark is "CD-Audio" and the logo.

Re:This is not a cd then

[RALE007]

I don't think you can trademark an abbreviation...

HP might disagree with you on that one. Since hp is their logo, and their logo is trademarked, it wouldn't be wise to go into a computer related business and refer to yourself as "HP".

Re:This is not a cd then

[MP3Chuck]

From the Wikipedia: "Philips have stated that such discs, which do not meet the Red Book specification, are not permitted to bear the trademarked Compact Disc Digital Audio logo."

haha

[wankledot]

"This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC."

Uh... do they even know what vaporware means? I love press releases like this, they should just how little the PR goons know about anything related to this technology.

"Where did Duke Nukem Forever come from?!"

[loyalsonofrutgers]

The newspost on the Beastie Boys website also includes the denial that the CD installs any vaporware on the user's PC. This has clueless manager written allllll over it.

Re:"Where did Duke Nukem Forever come from?!"

[tigress]

Oh? I dare you to prove that it DOES install vaporware. :D

Server is to Busy: Here is the Text

[thenextpresident]

1. There is NO copy controlled software on US or UK releases of Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."

2. The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all
Capitol/EMI titles (and a policy used by ALL major labels in Europe).

3. The copy protection system used for all EMI/Capitol releases including "To the 5 Boroughs" is Macrovision's CDS-200, which sets up an audio player into the users RAM (not hard drive) to playback the RED book audio on the disk. It does absolutely NOT install any kind of spyware, shareware, silverware, or ladies wear onto the users system.

You can find more information on the technology used here:
http://www.macrovision.com/products/cds/cds 200/ind ex.shtml

This is what EMI has to say about it:
Reports that "spyware" is being included on the Beastie Boy's CD, 'To The Five Boroughs' are absolutely untrue.

While the Beastie Boys CD does use copy control in some territories, there is no copy control on the Beasties Boys discs in the US or the UK. Where copy protection is used, it is Macrovision's CDS-200 technology; the same technology being used for the past several months around the world for all of EMI's releases in those territories. This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC. In fact, CDS-200 does not install software applications of ANY KIND on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based, meaning that it is dependent on the physical properties and the format of the CD. None of the copy protection in CDS-200 requires software applications to be loaded onto a computer.

The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly. It also temporarily installs a graphic "skin" for the player. Nothing is permanently installed on a hard drive. These details can be verified in the 'install.log' file in the computer's root directory.

Re:Server is to Busy: Here is the Text

[thenextpresident]

Not buy the CD. I won't buy CD's that are copy-protected. Basically, if I see that it's copy-protected, I look for the CD logo. If it's not on there, why would I want to buy something that isn't a CD?

Oh, it sucks. I like the Beastie Boy's, and I was going to buy their CD. I picked it up, and started walking to the register. But as soon as I saw that it was protected, I put it back.

I will buy CD's. I won't buy things that look like CD's, but aren't.

Re:Server is to Busy: Here is the Text

[cpghost]

These details can be verified in the 'install.log' file in the computer's root directory.

and

This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC. In fact, CDS-200 does not install software applications of ANY KIND on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based,

So, if everything is hardware protection, why do they touch some "install.log" in the computer's root directory?

"This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporwaere..." of course not. We call this mandatory DRM protection over here at EMI; not "spyware."

Re:Server is to Busy: Here is the Text

[pyrros]

>IIRC, everytime something is installed on a windows
>machine, an entry is placed in install.log

You don't. install.log is mostly used so an unistaller can now what to delete. A typical install.log resides inside a program's directory. I did a quick search in my hdd, and out of 28 install.log files, 26 where in \program files\foo and two where in \windows\system32\macromed\ (BAD macromedia).

The macrovision people get extra credit for dumping a file in the root directory.

Re:yes

[Pakaran2]

Yeah, well, if you want to run HURD, you'll have to install it yourself, I guess. It's free software, so you'd think they could legally bundle it with a music CD, but must have decided not to.

Maybe the album couldn't be 13 years late?

Now when Macrovision starts incorporating tupperware, I'll be worried - imagine having to push the lid of the jewel case down to burp it before you can move the CD to another device.

Ill Communication

[barcodez]

Looks like their server has some Ill Communication they had better get their root down

Re:Ill Communication

[ideatrack]

I don't know, that's gratitude for you. It could be sabotage, but I'm sure it'll be alive again soon. Let's hope they get it together.

Khuhuhuhuhuh.

Re:Just Another Reason For News

[cens0r]

But my CD player as spdif out, and my computer has spdif in. All it takes is one person like me to put it on the internet and then the cats out of the bag, and trust me when I say I'm not the only one with digital connections on my equipment.

Torrent

[barcodez]

The first torrent of this album was uploaded to the most famous of the torrent sites on the 4th June. This DRM thing is obviously pointless. What's the point DRMing in one market and not another - the Internet doesn't respect physical boundaries.

If I was feeling cynical I would think they are just doing this for publicity.

Re:Torrent

[alphaseven]

What's the point DRMing in one market and not another - the Internet doesn't respect physical boundaries.

This'll have no effect on internet piracy, though i think the point may be to make it harder for regular people to burn a copy for a friend or to get people who use portable MP3 players to buy the album again from an online service.

The fact that they're doing it in some markets and not others probably means someone will be doing some research as to how it effects sales.

Re:It should...

[TWX]

Yep. Other companies have released audio CDs with data portions, with stuff like music videos, games, info on the band, and the like on the data segment. The "soundtrack" just happens to be the bulk of the important content while the data portion is a "value added feature".

Err, Redbook != WMA

[murderlegendre]

Am I the only one who sees a strange contradiction between the following lines in the press release?

The copy protection system used for all EMI/Capitol releases including "To the 5 Boroughs" is Macrovision's CDS-200, which sets up an audio player into the users RAM (not hard drive) to playback the RED book audio on the disk.

Vs.

The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly.

So, which is it then? A Redbook audio cd, or a data CD with WMA compressed files? Am I reading this right?

Re:Err, Redbook != WMA

[cbreaker]

Although their guy got it wrong (the player does not play the redbook audio it plays WMA files) it does sound to me like this is simply a multi-session CD.

A PC will always play the last session, and an audio player will always play the first session. In this manner you can put both data and audio on a CD and have them easily accessable to both types of players.

In Windows, all you have to do is hold down the shift key while mounting the CD. It will load the first session on the disc instead of their crap DRM data session. Then rip away.

Re:You gotta fight for your right

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

The problem is the people who take that same "who cares" attitude about the RIAA. People who take the "who cares" attitude about p2p or even their computers.

I was having a discussion at a family party just the other week, and was shocked to hear my GRANDMOTHER talking about how "EVIL the RIAA is" (her words). I asked her what she was talking about, and she said that the commercials where they force the children to admit to being criminals is wrong. That got my aunts asking me where to get music from. Some wanted a legal way of doing it (I got one aunt setup with iTunes) and some wanted a free way of doing it.

More and more people are noticing the RIAA and more and more people are getting sick and tired of it.

Bought it, ripped it, stored it

[snillfisk]

.. and all that were done in Europe (where the CD actually contains a "Copy Controlled"-marking, which I didn't see anything about when ordering it on the web), under Windows 2000 (with Auth-play disabled). The OGGs came out perfectly fine without any problems. Yes, the CD should be perfectly playable under linux (unless someone has implemented insertion notification and auto-run and automagical installation and implementation of windows drivers into the kernel. ;)

And this also goes for all other current protection systems that I've had my hands on during the last months.. No idea why they even try.

Re:You gotta fight for your right

[0racle]

Fry: "Wow the Beastie Boys, a 1000 years ago i had all 5 of your albums."
Mike D: "Ya but that was a 1000 years ago..."
Adam Horovitz: "Now we have 7."

Norton isn't so innocent

[WinterpegCanuck]

I like my recycle bin the way it is, painfully microsoft, I don't need it painfully microsoft and horribly symantec at the same time. Try and walk the average home user through disabling it over the phone. . . well then, my mother has always been the hardest person for me to give tech support for. . .. too much swearing knocks me out of the will.

Broadcast Flag

[Mark_MF-WN]

This is why "broadcast flag" technology is being added to digital media streams and to all media-player hardware. So that even that option wont be available.

RAID meta-data ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if the beasties and company would pay for Ontrack to recover RAID table meta-data, as writing DRM information to hidden disk sectors will fail some RAID arrays. Remember TurboTax!

Well done news..

[Turn-X Alphonse]

The sad thing is their actions haven't been on public news or anything. If they can report some idiots kicking a ball around why isn't the news reporting when a huge violation of trust and the law is done by a big company. When you look at how all this has played out you start to relise just how messed up the news community is...

If it's David Beckham then they will sell their left arm for a picture but if it's a serious issue like this then it gets no coverage and other then us geeks most people won't even have a clue about it..

Re:Damn Straight.

[wasabii]

Um. That's not fair use. That's plain copyright violation. Fair use says you can listen to the music you bought, in any way you choose. You can rip it to your HD, you can make backups.

Fair use does not say you can download it from the internet nor share it with people.

That is plain theft. You moron.

hmm ram resident only?

[linuxislandsucks]

Most system admins would call this type of program behavior virus/wrom like in the least..

So what right does beastie Boys have installingvirsuses on my computer system just as punishment for buying their CD?

Re:You gotta fight for your right

[kitzilla]

The real question is "who cares" about the beastie boys latest album?

Well, it debuted at Number One on the Billboard Album Chart, so somebody must care.

What is most distressing is that the Beasties are the second DRM CD to hit the top of the chart. Boroughs displaced Velvet Revolver's Contraband at #1. Contraband is also DRM "protected."

This should open the floodgates. If record companies were ever shy of DRM, now they'll know people will buy their defective wares, anyway.

I'd like a copy of Velvet Revolver. But I won't buy it until I can find a copy on the used market. If the entire Slashdot world quit buying CDs, it would hardly make a dent (not that Slashdotters *always* pay for their music). But it's the principle of the whole thing.

My main bitch with DRM CDs is that it might make it more difficult to rip legally purchased music to my hard drive. I don't even own a standalone CD player these days, and I want to be able to load my library on an iPod. All perfectly legal activities, but Big Music wants to dictate how I listen and store my music. In the owrds of our Vice President, f*ck them.

And f*ck artists who go along with it. Maybe I don't need that Velvet Revolver CD, after all.

The confusion of copy protection/DRM

[flinxmeister]

I was trying to explain the workings of the various online digital distributors to someone at the office. After a couple minutes she said "I think I'll just buy the CD and rip it".

Now junk like this is adding the same confusion to purchasing a CD. The logical result? "I think I'll just download a pirated copy".

When you have to post a 'response' to a new thing on an old thing that used to just work, you have by definition created confusion. People will go for the simpler option: piracy.

Good thinkin' record people!

Re:The confusion of copy protection/DRM

[_Sprocket_]

When you have to post a 'response' to a new thing on an old thing that used to just work, you have by definition created confusion. People will go for the simpler option: piracy.

I've made a simular comment before.

If you want your data in a widely usefull format, you're going to have to know how to do some kind of hack. These hacks will become more and more complex. So the easier route would be to turn to your favorite source of illicit data and take advantage of someone else's work.

Not all illicit data sources are equal. Even before the various Media industry associations started hiring outfits to play shennanigans, getting a good quality RIP involved a fair degree of effort. Or money.

Now, once you've gone through all the effort to get your illicit data... what's the incentive of buying a legal copy? After all, you're already vested in the data you just aquired. It's not like going to buy a copy from the store is giving you a whole lot. And neither is buying and downloading a sanctioned copy.

The Music industry is making illicit data markets attractive.

On a side note - it's interesting to watch this work in a completely open market. Back in the early 90's, I spent some time in Saudi Arabia. There were no copyright laws. There were entire stores devoted to cheap knock-off cassettes of the latest pop music. However, there were also stores that sold both the cheap knock-offs and the better-quality official products. They were competatively priced with advertisements extolling the virtues (higher quality, lyrics, etc) of the official products. In the stores that sold both, I saw a lot of customers walking up to the register with official merchandise (as well as those who went for price over quality).

Cache

[cgenman]

Google Cache

1. There is NO copy controlled software on US or UK releases of Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."

2. The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all
Capitol/EMI titles (and a policy used by ALL major labels in Europe).

3. The copy protection system used for all EMI/Capitol releases including "To the 5 Boroughs" is Macrovision's CDS-200, which sets up an audio player into the users RAM (not hard drive) to playback the RED book audio on the disk. It does absolutely NOT install any kind of spyware, shareware, silverware, or ladies wear onto the users system.

You can find more information on the technology used here:
http://www.macrovision.com/products/cds/cds 200/ind ex.shtml

This is what EMI has to say about it:
Reports that "spyware" is being included on the Beastie Boy's CD, 'To The Five Boroughs' are absolutely untrue.

While the Beastie Boys CD does use copy control in some territories, there is no copy control on the Beasties Boys discs in the US or the UK. Where copy protection is used, it is Macrovision's CDS-200 technology; the same technology being used for the past several months around the world for all of EMI's releases in those territories. This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC. In fact, CDS-200 does not install software applications of ANY KIND on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based, meaning that it is dependent on the physical properties and the format of the CD. None of the copy protection in CDS-200 requires software applications to be loaded onto a computer.

The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly. It also temporarily installs a graphic "skin" for the player. Nothing is permanently installed on a hard drive. These details can be verified in the 'install.log' file in the computer's root directory.

Re:Cache

[John Courtland]

That doesn't make any goddamn sense. Vapourware? Who ever wrote that article must not know what the fuck they're talking about.

Re:Cache

[TWX]

I've thought of drafting a letter to them, something like the following:

Dear Beastie Boys:

Stop trying to debate technical matters regarding the software your new CD tries to run with people who know far, far more about the details than you do. From our perspective it's like trying to have a duel with an unarmed man. Relax, your regular mindless fans won't know the situation anyway, and probably won't even be aware of the damage that you are illegally causing to their PCs, assuming that there are any people left who were fifteen the last time you had a release who still care to listen to you.

Normally I wouldn't have cared either way about your new CD, but in light of recent developments, I'll keep an eye out for it on the Internet.

Sincerely,
Random Techie

Re:Cache

[bgeer]

This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC.

What a relief, we can only imagine what disastrous effects it might have if Duke Nukem Forever were to be surreptitiously installed on the defenseless hard drives of innocent beastie-boy fans.

Re:Cache

[MC_Cancer_Pants]

One thing i've always liked about the Beastie Boys were their technological edge. I find your claims to be highly unfounded and based upon a few songs you heard back in the 80s.

Re:Cache

[GumphMaster]

...sets up an audio player into the users RAM (not hard drive) to playback the RED book audio on the disk.

The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly.

Apart from the obvious self-contradiction (Red Book audio is uncompressed stereo, while WMA compressed files clearly are not) doesn't this serve as an admission of deceptive trading practices? They are presenting the disc in a form that implies a certain quality level in the reproduction but actually delivering something less: compressed audio.

Re:Cache

[Teun]

1. There is NO copy controlled software on US or UK releases of Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."

2. The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy

Oh, you mean the UK is not Europe?
Yep, the next sentence proves this guy doesn't have a clue about geography.

the same technology being used for the past several months around the world for all of EMI's releases in those territories

Love to hear what else there is between 'around the world' and 'those territories'.

Bills defining a virus, and making this illegal.

[DMUTPeregrine]

S.2145 In comitte, hearings held. S.2131 Status: Referred to Senate committe. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committe on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. H.R.4255 The Computer Software Privacy and Control Act. Status: Referred to the Subcommitte on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. S.563 The Computer Owner's Bill of Rights These bills, if passed, would make such programs illegal. YAY!

Re:You gotta fight for your right

[obey13]

First off, I totally agree with you about the stalness of the vast majority of music produced by the major labels, but I think in the grand scheme its beside the point.

While you and I arent running out to buy the new beastie boys album, many people are. They have the right to fair use. The beastie boys and the labels are dnying that right.

I know I'm just complaining without offering a solution, but no matter how crappy we think the state of music is just not buying it is not the solution.

makes mp3's just fine.

[blade8086]

My girlfriend bought the CD for me the other week much to my
happy surprise ..

saw the note on the back, and was a little worried I'd have to install windows to run it..

so:

First thing I did was pop it in my gentoo box and run
'rip' ..

cddb + mp3 conversion worked just fine thank you very much.

http://www.gnu.org/directory/audio/rip/rip.html

Available at www.allofmp3.com

[davebarnes]

A wonderful music download site (www.allofmp3.com) has this new album available for download in the format and bit rate of your choice.

Prices range from $0.03 to $0.30 USD per song.

So much for DRM attempts.

Re:Available at www.allofmp3.com

[Fweeky]

$0.567 for a lossless copy of the longest track -- about a third of the price of a 128kbps DRM crippled AAC from iTunes UK.

Re:Available at www.allofmp3.com

[Have Blue]

The legality of this site is hazy (at the very least), so it may not be the best choice if you're trying to avoid piracy for philosophical reasons.

Re:Available at www.allofmp3.com

[mbourgon]

It's even listed under "Top Best Sellers"! *ROFL*

Re:Damn Straight.

[cartzworth]

Actually, Thats plain copyright infringement Mr. Hatch, but we won't go there. You're correct thats not fair use, but what the poster is saying is that the recording industry doesnt respect fair use so he is going to use civil disobedience to disrespect them in return.

Re:You gotta fight for your right

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

Actually their new album is quite good. Atleast you know where they're coming from. Their lyrics reflect their politics. Which i think is right on.

The new album has some very good songs. The beasties are perhaps a little more innocent in style compared to todays "i'm a big rich mother fucker driving a bentley" rap. Frankly that stuff is so sickening. The fantasy world the fans of that shit live in, is simply put... tragic.

The Beasties are as real as it gets and so what they have an older style.... Its still pretty dam good. They leave the audience feeling good, rather than worshiping the $ like a false god, only to go home to their lower-middle class lives, pretending that they're jay-z. Yeah that gets you far in life.

As for outkast, i never got how people love those guys. Someone in the record industry gave me their latest cd and i felt like a fag listening to it :) I'm sorry the whole first cd is a ballad to women.

The second disc is more of the same, except for a song or two.

I give Outkast credit for being differernt... but from an audience point of view... the music's really fem.

Question

[Amorpheus_MMS]

1. There is NO copy controlled software on US or UK releases of Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."

2. The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all

Why is it that Europeans get the DRM disks and US/UK get regular ones?

Re:Question

[Kiryat Malachi]

Options:

1) They're punishing you for being godless commies.

2) We protected you from the red menace for so long, this is our payoff.

3) English is just a naturally superior language; as a result, English speakers don't deserve DRM.

4) French people. Enough said.

5) George W Bush threatened to nuke EMI if they didn't keep "those godless Eurotrash from pirating our hard-earned American IP".

6) Barbara Boxer threatened to sue EMI if they didn't keep "those wonderful European scamps from pirating the music industries rightfully earned profits".

7) Orrin Hatch's head exploded; as a result, the US no longer has to deal with stupid copy protection efforts.

8) French people.

9) Specifically to piss off the Europeans; I mean, that's what American corporations live for, right?

10) They think if they make the scheme illogical enough, all the computer nerds who pirate their music will have their brains ignite in a collective bonfire of confusion.

(laugh, its supposed to be funny)

Re:Question

[BrianCarlstrom]

1. There is NO copy controlled software on US or UK releases of Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."

2. The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all

Why is it that Europeans get the DRM disks and US/UK get regular ones?

And when did the UK leave the continent of Europe?

Re:Damn Straight.

[Fruit]

Downloading is allowed under copyright law. Offering it for download isn't.
(Dutch copyright law).

The is divided into data and audio

[Mustang Matt]

The data side has an autorun and is loaded with some wma files.

Just grab the audio side like normal.

Re:Damn Straight.

[Vystrix Nexoth]

he didn't say that what he's doing is fair use. what he means is this is his way of protesting the way the record companies are trying to prevent fair use (such as with this DRM thing).
basically, "allow fair use or we won't pay money for your music".

how well that'll work is anyone's guess. that's just my view on it.

Check Your Head

[yoshi_mon]

I want to say to Jimmy James that I'm rather mad at the "vaporware" that is not being installed on my box.

My Funky Boss is not happy about it either because when I tried to listen to my new CD on my computer at work it hosed it up.

I had to Pass the Mic to my admin who told me I needed to read /. more often so I would know these things.

But I did have some Gratitude for other artists who take a stand with their recording companys unlike the BBoys are doing now apparently.

Their website told me to Lighten Up but I still don't think they are being honest with me.

Other CD's are Finger Licking Good because the are real but I guess they forgot that when they made this one.

So Whatcha Want is a real CD and not this one.

The Biz vs the Nudge was a grudge match between DRM and Fair Use, we are still waiting to see who will win.

Time For Livin is right now, if you are real about your music BBoys stand up to your label and speak some truth.

Something's Got to Give and it will; SCO will fall and MS will have to find a new shill.

The Blue Nun does not even like the DRM on her box.

Stand Together beacuse if we refuse these DRM crippled systems they will stop selling them.

POW in your mouth for messing with us.

The Maestro told me that I could disable this DRM by holding down a shift key but he was sent away for being a "terrorist".

Groove Holmes also was suspect but he is told them he's voteing for Bush this year so they let him go.

Live at PJ's was recorded and distributed via Kazaa, increaseing record sales, but the RIAA still sued them.

I Mark the Bus with instructions on how to defeat the DRM on the new BBoys album so all my homies can see it.

Professor Booty is working on a way to defeat people who "steal" all that music by singing on their own but I hear it's not going very well.

In 3's, #1 damn this album has a lot of tracks, #2 I though I could respect the BBoys but I'm not so sure now, #3 if you have read all this your more wacked than Mike D.

I had to bend over for Namaste so he could install the DRM in my...

What do I care?

[dilweed]

I've already downloaded my copy. :)

Re:What do I care?

[Shai-kun]

I downloaded it just because of the DRM. Turned out I don't even like the album.

Re:Uh...no

[Lord Kano]

Enforcement of DRM isn't inherently bad whatsoever. It's when the consumer isn't told about it.

I'm sure that we will all agree that the DVDCA informed the public that DVDs were encrypted so that their content could be controlled. I'm also sure that most of us will agree that it was a bad thing when they invoked the DMCA to prevent people from developing a Linux DVD Player.

DRM is evil. It's an attempt to control when, where and how you can enjoy the content that you've paid to access.

LK

Most importantly...

[NumbThumb]

This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC (emphasis mine)

Those marketing-drones really have no clue what they are talking about... vaporware can, by definition, not be installed.

Re:Most importantly...

[Jesus_666]

Those marketing-drones really have no clue what they are talking about... vaporware can, by definition, not be installed.

Which means that indeed no vaporware is installed. The droids are obviously right.

Re:Most importantly...

[Alsee]

vaporware can, by definition, not be installed.

Sure it can!
Just only on the Phantom game console.

-

Re:PREPARE TO BE MODERATED DOWN!

[BroncoInCalifornia]

Sometime semantics is important. Spinners for the record companies use the word "theft" for IP infringement because it carries more emotional heft. From this I conclude the record companies do not want us to think rationaly about this.

Re:I don't mind too much

[gnu-generation-one]

"As long as DRM stays locked in the tealm of crap music, I don't mind. As soon as DRM cripples something of quality, then I'll be a sad clown."

Does it matter? Look at the label. It says "EMI".

Look at the press release. It says "The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all Capitol/EMI titles"

Look at the list of EMI artists

Please avoid buying music from the following bands:

112, Paula Abdul, Adema, Air Control, Damon Albarn, Lee Alexander, Jerel Allen, Marshall Altman, Amen, Keith Andes, Deric Angeletti, Ron Aniello, Ira Antelis, Angie Aparo, Craig Armstrong, Aslyn, At The Drive-In, Dallas Austin, Avalanches, Avenged Sevenfold, The B-52's, Anders Bagge, Tony Banks, Travis Barker, Jimmy Barnes, John Barry, Alejandro Bassi, Battlecat, Rick Beato, Victoria Beckham, Beenie Man, Howard Benson, Eddie Berkeley, Bigpockets, BLM, Black Lab, Grant Black, Bleu, Blur, Shauna Bolton, Simon Boswell, James Bradshaw, Necia Bray, Breech, Danielle Brisebois, Meredith Brooks, Nick Brophy, Kerry Brothers Jr., Jocelyn Brown, Livingstone Brown, Bubba Sparxxx, Budda, Brooks Buford, Kate Bush, Busted, Ryan Cabrera, Café Tacuba, Joi Campbell, Gil Cang, Luciana Caporaso, Benny Cassette, Cannibal Corpse, Belinda Carlisle, Sue Ann Carwell, Caviar, Caviar (Kannon Cross), Guy Chambers, Tracy Chapman, Melanie C, Clem Snide, Jay Clifford, Citizen Cope, City High, Carlyton K.K. Clanton, The Clipse, Phil Collins, Armando Colon, Melvin Saint Nick Coleman, Sean P. Diddy Combs, Harry Connick Jr., Bernadette Cooper, Coral, Counting Crows, Deborah Cox, Graham Coxon, Shondrae Crawford, Kenneth Crouch, The Crystal Method, Curt & Bob, D-12, Da Brat, LeShawn Daniels, Danny D, Danny P, Terence Trent D'Arby (aka Sananda Maitreya), N'Dea Davenport, Iva Davies, John Deacon, Default, Darrell De-Lite Allamby, Cathy Dennis, Depeche Mode, Josh Deutsch, Chris Difford, Kara Dioguardi, Dirty Vegas, Divinyls, Antonio Dixon, DJ Clue & Duro, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Sheats, DJ Skribble, Johnny Dollar (aka Johnny Sharp), The Donnas, Doves, Terrance Dudley, Jerry Duplessis, Jermaine Dupri, Paul Durham, Ms. Dynamite, Tim Easton, JB Eckl, Jason Edmonds, Fil Eisler, Electric Soft Parade, Enya, Eristopher, Michelle Escoffery, Marquez Etheridge, Fabolous, Ricky Fante, The Federation, John Feldmann, Fergie, Filter, Fish, Five For Fighting, The Flaming Lips, Flaw, Flick, Keith Flint, Foo Fighters, Foster & McElroy, Amy Foster Gillies, Andrew Frampton, Giuliano Franco, Justine Frischmann, Fundisha, Sia Furler, Nelly Furtado, Julian Gallagher, James Gass (pka Pro-Jay), Gem, Antony Genn, Goo Goo Dolls, Good Charlotte, Missy Gibson, Howard Goodall, Qur'an Goodman, Karl Gordon (pka K-Gee), Martin Gore, Gorillaz, Graham Gouldman, George Green, Pat Green, Paul L. Green, Steve Greenberg, Greenwheel, Geri Halliwell, Ashley Hamilton, Ed Harcourt, Jeremy Harding, Ben Harper, Rich Harrison, Tammie L. Harris, Terry Harris, David Harrow (aka James Hardway) (aka Technova), Jimmy Harry, Paul Heard, Heavy D, Alex Heffes, Chris Henderson, Michael Henry, Vincent Herbert, Reynada Hill, Rupert Hine, Hod David, Hot Karl, Felix Howard, James Newton Howard, Liam Howlett, Mick Hucknall, Van Hunt, Angela Hunte, Chrissie Hynde, Icehouse, Idlewild, Enrique Iglesias, Ill Nino, Ima Robot, Incubus, Indigo Girls, J-Dub, J-Kwon, J-Praize, Jagged Edge, Jam & Lewis, Janet Jackson, Alex James, Jamiroquai, Jay-Z, Lemarquis Jefferson, Rodney Jerkins, Jewel, JIVEjones, Jodeci, Damon Johnson, Puff Johnson, Norah Jones, Theresa Jones, Tyrice Jones, Maurice Joshua, Kandi, Shawn Kane, Guyora Kats, Dave Katz, Jay Kay, KB & Spec, KC-I & Jo Jo, Kelis, Dave Kelly, Tom Kelly, Kenna, Alicia Keys, Stephen Kipner, Jack Knight, Savan Kotecha, Lenny Kravitz, Krucial, Jack Kugell, Ty Lacy, Eritza Laues, Patrick Leonard, Paul Leonard-Morgan, Andres Levin, Keri Lewis, LG, Libertines, Dave Lichens, Harold Lilly, David Lindsey, Lit, Angel Lopez, Lo-Pro, Lostpro

Oh, vaporware that turned my PC into vapor ??

[freaker_TuC]

The full comment what happened to my pc is available here and I am still not happy with it ....

I wonder why I deserved my CD-ROM drive not to be working anymore because I have tried to copy my friends legal-bought CD to the Archos of him.

I can't read anything anymore through the CD-ROM drive, no data and no audio cd's, nothing works since I have inserted the new Beasty Boys CD.

I am really starting to get annoyed since this means a complete re-install of that PC which I do not have the time (or money) for. A lot of data is on backup but also a lot of data (my vinyl and protected CD's ripped to WAV format) will be lost after this re-install.

These copyprotections are taking more time than I have; to be even more specific, certain CD's like Solid Sounds I need to rip manually to be able to USE this CD in my older car cd player and pro Denon DJ CD player!!! Since I am DJ and using vinyl and CD's a lot I find this unacceptable.

Is this copyprotection a convenience only for the record company or should the audio CD be a convenience for the listener? Where's the time you put in the CD in your favorite cd player you like to listen to the music you like ? The time of putting your cd in your car cdplayer, cd-rom drive or professional CD player is over and it's only getting worse, looking to this example of the latest CD I tried to rip for my friend.

I used to buy 2 to 5 cd's a month, since I am not sure anymore which cd's work or not I started buying more vinyl again, but hell, I do not want to buy ANY releases of the same producers that cripple the audio CD's I have bought for 20 EURO or more!

The recording industry has lost at least 600 EURO last year only because I do not want to buy or use cd's anymore.. what's the use to buy a cd if I can't use it?

I have built up a nice record collection of +30000 vinyl records and +2000 cd's. Probably the collection of my cd's will not be updated anymore as protest to this kind of behavior towards the consumer. I currently have about 62 cd's of the last 2 years that I cannot use at all unless I rip it and copy it. This is about 1200 EURO/$ I have lost because I cannot use them as DJ.

This will conclude the recording industry will not get MY money of minimally 720 EURO/$ per year anymore, which I will spend on independent vinyl recording companies which are not related to the ones that cripple MY cd's I have bought with my well-deserved money.

Re:I don't mind too much

[AvantLegion]

Does it matter? Look at the label. It says "EMI".

Look at the press release. It says "The disk *IS* copy controlled in Europe - which is standard policy for all Capitol/EMI titles"

Look at the list of EMI artists

Please avoid buying music from the following bands:

(big ass list of crap "artists" cut)

Wow! I'm boycotting EMI without even trying!

A more complete article here...

[freaker_TuC]

I have made a post about this matter on my personal site ; since it's something I am quite annoyed of... It's updated to a full article/rant.
---
My soulmate wanted to rip the CD to put on his Archos Jukebox, since he is not using CD's anymore but still buys them to be legal and to have the full version.

Since I have put in the CD I can't run my company invoice system anymore, can't do anything at all with that cdrom drive, can't even play a game. Every time I put in the CD it cannot be recognized by my system.

I already tried to uninstall the software but the problem stays, which forces me to reinstall the PC completely (which I definitely don't have the time for now at the moment and will cost me days to get my invoicing and updates done).

Is this legal ? Can this be allowed ? I am literally loosing money now just because I wanted to rip that legal and bought cd for him straight to his Archos. It's not even music I like to listen to... (no offense intended to all fans around here) ...

Apparantly it is legal folks ..
CD's that demolish your PC ready to reinstall!...

I am really starting to get even more annoyed since I do not know which CD's I can even TRUST anymore without the need to re-install my PC? To stay on topic ; A lot of data is on backup but also a lot of data (my vinyl and protected CD's ripped to WAV format) will be lost after this re-install.

These copyprotections are taking more time than I have; to be even more specific, certain CD's like Solid Sounds I need to rip manually to be able to USE this CD in my older car cd player and pro Denon DJ CD player!!! Since I am DJ and using vinyl and CD's a lot I find this unacceptable. Put in this pro-DJ player and you got to wait up to 6 minutes before the CD *might* get read; which is too long for a clubDJ to mix to the next song; unless I have a 8-10 minute song running from vinyl...

Is this copyprotection a convenience only for the record company or should the audio CD be a convenience for the listener? Where's the time you put in the CD in your favorite cd player you like to listen to the music you like ? The time of putting your cd in your car cdplayer, cd-rom drive or professional CD player is over and it's only getting worse, looking to this example of the latest CD I tried to rip for my friend.

And this is not even the end, my soulmate has bought 2 other CD's, which one of them is the new Faithless CD (the other one I can't remember because we have a different taste (and yet the same) of music) and he can't rip it to use on his MP3 player *and* he can't use it on his home CD player (unreadable disks).

I used to buy 2 to 5 cd's a month, since I am not sure anymore which cd's work or not I started buying more vinyl again, but hell, I do not want to buy ANY releases of the same producers that cripple the audio CD's I have bought for 20 EURO or more!

The recording industry has lost at least 600 EURO last year only because I do not want to buy or use cd's anymore.. what's the use to buy a cd if I can't use it?

I have built up a nice record collection of +30000 vinyl records and +2000 cd's. Probably the collection of my cd's will not be updated anymore as I protest to this kind of behavior towards the consumer. I currently have about 62 cd's of the last 2 years that I cannot use at all unless I rip it and copy it. This is about 1200 EURO/$ I have lost because I cannot use them as DJ.

This will conclude the recording industry will not get MY money of minimally 720 EURO/$ per year anymore, which I will spend on independent vinyl recording companies which are not related to the ones that cripple MY cd's I have bought with my well-deserved money which I pay my taxes on.

For so far my rant ... for the ones that care ; I started to care a lot since I have lost my cd-rom drive on a very mysterious way

Re:I don't mind too much

[Anonymous Coward]

I bit of a modification of Pastor Martin Niemöller's quote, but it shows why if someone is doing something wrong we should speak out, even if it doesn't hurt us (yet).

First they came for Rap
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Rap.
Then they came for Pop
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Pop.
Then they came for Country
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Country.
Then they came for my favorites
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

And you didn't bother to show her the RIAA radar?

[MacDork]

You forgot to show her how to avoid giving the RIAA money at all... You're heart seems to be in the right place, but next time this happens, show them iTunes + RIAA radar. For those that want free, send 'em over to iRate. Encourage those who care to do these simple things, and bands will quickly find out how unpopular it is to be affiliated with those thugs.

I was hoping...

[illumin8]

This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC.

Damn! I was kind of hoping it would install Duke Nukem Forever when I stuck it in my drive...

Almost pregnant...

[Archfeld]

What if you are a laptop user and regularly use the SUSPEND TO DISK function which copies the current RAM image to disk ? Does this imply I can got to the EMI building and just HANG OUT in the lobby and discourage people from entering and using the facility as long as I have a home else where ? If I write a virus in a run time environment, ship it to a server and it never writes to disk that IT IS LEGAL, in Europe at least ?....

*thinks perhaps the brownies were a bit to strong this time, and wanders off mumbling to himself*

My name's mike D and I demand respect

[Anonymous Coward]

My name's mike D and I demand respect

Your RAM and CD drive are what I expect

and lets not forget other great momments such as:

I did it like this, I did it like that, I DRM'd and shoved it up your ass hat so.....

And..

Macro Vision.. that funky VISION! Cop's got my gun, I'm on the run, and right about now I'd like to have some fun... fucking those geek slash dotters.

WORD

Re:I don't mind too much

[AvantLegion]

First they came for Rap
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Rap.
Then they came for Pop
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Pop.
Then they came for Country
and I did not speak out
because I did not like Country.

Then the RIAA came for Good Music
and I did not speak out
For I died of shock

Re:Seems like a limitation

[cbreaker]

I've got a few CD's that are multisession. They usually have some crappy PC-Friendly junk that always seems to crash.

Out of all the CD's I do have, which isn't TOO many but probably around 30 or so, not a single one is even 60 minutes, nevermind 70. Almost all albums have around 12 - 14 songs, some less some more. There's exceptions, but not enough to worry about the extra space required for the psuedo copy protection that this Beastie Boys album has.

The other crappy part about this whole thing is that these WMA files won't sound as good as your standard 44.1Khz, 16-bit *uncompressed* audio. I mean, they could sound just about as good, but in my experience these DRM music files are usually encoded at something like 128Kbps, and will especially be so if the album is larger then normal.

The above points aside, the whole DRM thing in it's current forms depend on technology that changes too much. I don't want my music CD to be unusable in six years because Windows 2010 won't run the application. Or the required libraries are no longer available. Or I'm running a different processor platform, or not Windows at all.

CD's eventually took over because they worked with every CD player no matter what, no exceptions. This DRM crap works on no CD Players and there's no single DRM standard that everyone is using.

DRM will get between a person and his or her music. It won't stop music from being copied (Haven't they learned anything from the last three decades of trying to copy protect software?) and it will simply cause law-abiding citizens their time and money.

Re:where warez costs you money...

[Fancia]

AllOfMP3 pays license fees to ROMS, which in turn pays license fees (minus a very small percentage for operation costs) to the artists.

Re:Cognitive Dissonance? (Red book == WMA ? )

[veg]

Compare and contrast:
"3. The copy protection system used for all EMI/Capitol releases including 'To the 5 Boroughs' is Macrovision's CDS-200, which sets up an audio player into the users RAM (not hard drive) to playback the RED book audio on the disk."

Vs

"The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly."

So "RED book"==WMA ?