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?

[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?

[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?

[elemental23]

"I did not have sex with that woman."

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

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?

[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.

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.

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.

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?

[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.

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!

[MBCook]

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

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

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

[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.

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

[tigress]

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

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

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: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: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.

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."

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.

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.

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!

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: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.

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...

[Alsee]

vaporware can, by definition, not be installed.

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

-

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.