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Sony, Amazon Detail Rootkit CD Buybacks
An anonymous reader writes "Washingtonpost.com is reporting that Sony BMG today detailed a program that should allow customers who bought one of the 52 titles known to be tainted with the company's deeply flawed anti-piracy software to exchange them for CDs of the same title, sans rootkit of course. Oddly enough, Sony is offering those who want to return the CDs the chance to download MP3 versions of the discs, but only after Sony has received the returned discs. Amazon.com also is sending out e-mails to customers who bought the discs, offering to replace or refund them at no cost."
I bet that the MP3's will be watermarked with the individual downloader's unique ID, so Sony/RIAA can later sue their customers...
That said, what bitrate, frequency and codec is used for the MP3s?
Regards,
--
*Art
I have owned Sony Walkmen, Playstation, Playstation 2, etc.
I have owned dozens of Sony CDs.
I have 6 Sony audio components.
I will NEVER buy another Sony product ever again, and I urge ALL of you to do the same.
If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
Nice of Amazon to do this, since it wasn't really their rootkit (or maybe they're thinking about potential liability, doesn't really matter).
It'd be great if Amazon and other big vendors refused to carry discs with this sort of horrible DRM. That'd probably get the music company's attention a little better than a few geeks organizing a boycott.
Recalling the CD's is merely a slap on the wrist. It doesn't cost Sony as nearly as much money as a lawsuit, costs Amazon money, and it does not repair the damage to numerous artists names by this rootkit.
If Sony actually would own up to their stupid mistake, the artists wouldn't be impacted so much. Look at Van Dant's CD on Amazon. 1.5 stars, 300 reviews, most mentioning the rootkit. Do you think that he'll fare so well in the future.
I have lost faith in Sony. Propietary formats and other things were a little odd, but I accepted them. But rootkits, a patent for games that only play on the console they were originally put in...seems like a ridiculous infringement on user rights.
Rather than losing money to pirates, people will turn to better solutions and Sony will be the loser.
6. Bette Midler - Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
Who in their right mind would subject themselves to such torture. And, what's more, someone paid for the privlege.
And well they should be! In many countries what they did is criminal and should land the decision makers in prison. Both the computer sabotage and the code theft are an issue. Even if Sony can claim they trusted the vendor of the rootkit, then people there should go to prison and Sony would not look that much better.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The article seems to indicate the offers cover CDs with First4Internet's XCP crap, but that's it. There's apparently similar ugliness with CDs using Sunncomm's MediaMaz copy protection (see http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=925) which is not covered. I guess that one hasn't gotten enough mainstream media coverage yet...
I just love the fact that when my friend put the Natasha Bedingfield CD to listen to it, I told him I wouldn't be suprised if his computer broke (or at least got mad at him) by putting that crappy excuse for music in there. Seems I was right- his attempt to remove the rootkit totally borked his XP to the point it no longer boots. Guess he should have read the article at the Register first.
I really wanted to buy the NW-A3000 MP3 player when it's released here (everyone and their mom has an iPod... literally). iPods are nice and all, but I'd like something a bit different. Now that I don't know if I can trust Sony, where am I to turn? That thing was so cool looking too.
--- At my sig, unleash hell.
I think you should ask for more than your purchase price back. These disks, if not returned for destruction, have the ability to hurt Sony for many years to come, and Sony must know this. The disks have a long lifespan and each one of them could cause damage to multiple computers if it were passed around.
I would offer to sell the disk(s) to Sony for twice the original price, plus (if one of them infected my computer) the cost of a complete professionally-done system and software re-install, plus $5-100/hour for my time.
As bad as this incident has been the response and comments of the Sony-BMG execs just added fuel to the fire. Their response was arrogant and clueless, rivaled only by the Bush administration for sheer gall and contempt of the average person.
If Sony is reflective of the attitude of big business toward their customers, then this rootkit business is only the warm up act. The captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign, please return to your seats and hang on.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Here's some favorable press that First4Internet received a couple of years ago.
x cp_art8
http://www.xcp-aurora.com/press_article.aspx?art=
"Step 3: Download free MP3s."
Why do I have to download them? Can't the rootkit just go fetch 'em?
Hmmmmm....
No offense, but here is an idea: how about you go out and try some of the MP3 players and just choose the one you like or you think works best for you, rather than choosing one because everyone is (or is not, in your case) using it? I understand the desire to feel like a non-conformist, but don't let conformity or non-conformity get in the way of function. If an iPod works best for you, then don't worry about who else has one. If an iPod doesn't work best for you, then get whatever else you want, as long as you are willing to support the company that produces it.
I will grant you that the Sony player does indeed look pretty cool, but being Sony, one has to wonder how well the software is designed and how easy it is to use over all. Of course, being Sony, I (like you) will never buy one after all of this crap they are pulling.
Disclaimer: I am a proud iPod owner, and I recommend it to a LOT of people, but not because it is "cool". I recommend it because it is REALLY easy and comfortable to use. However, if you do get one, the first thing to do is get rid of the Apple Ear Buds and plug in some real headphones. I personally use a set of Technics RP-DJ1200s. :D
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
I've noticed this a lot with copy protected CDs. Most the the time they seem to be artists that a very small percentage of the population listen to. The only artist I see on the list that is even somewhat popular is Our Lady Peace.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
The CDs still remain defective.
The defect is not about a second session containing a data track with a ISO9660 filesystem containing a rootkit and autorun.inf - the defect is about the audio part being defective, which they also declare as "copy protection" but is nothing more than a defective TOC, intentional short defects on CRC data, bad 8/14 encoding and some other nonsense which all violate the Redbook specification.
Can I buy that song on a Sony CD?