Copy-protected CD Tops U.S. Charts 895
Joey Patterson writes "CNET is reporting that Velvet Revolver's new album, 'Contraband', which is protected with SunnComm's anti-copying technology, has topped the U.S. album charts. The SunnComm and BMG execs quoted in the article say that they're pleased with the apparent consumer acceptance of the anti-piracy technology, but they have been hearing questions about how people can get the copy-blocked songs from the CD onto an iPod."
Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
The anger will come soon...
funny (Score:3, Insightful)
Oops! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:But.. (Score:2, Insightful)
How to get album onto iPod (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy album.
Put on iPod.
On a less pithy note, would it be that hard for EMI to make an agreement with Apple such that, if you have the CD in the drive, you can buy the iTunes version for free? Or you could always package the album with a certificate code that can be used to buy the album for free on iTunes. Both of those seem like relatively easy solutions.
And, finally, on an inquisitive note, does this software also install on OS X? Or is this a Windows only gimping?
and it doesn't work at all (Score:3, Insightful)
so basically, if you can listen to it, it will be on p2p, get used to that RIAA!!!
Not surprising... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hell, I'll go buy this one. These guys make good music. Plain and simple. Go pimp your 'the people want copy protection' somewhere else. People want decent music. This band delivers.
Put it on an iPod? (Score:2, Insightful)
Great quotes... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the point is to make people unable to rip the music and you allow a backdoor 'knowingly' then why even bother in the first place?
"We are actively working with Apple to provide a long-term solution to this issue," a posting on SunnComm's Web site reads. "We encourage you to provide feedback to Apple, requesting they implement a solution that will enable the iPod to support other secure music formats."
Dear Apple,
Please support the latest copy-protection scheme from my favourite recording label, BMG and their current subsidiary, SunComm. Also, please compile in support for the different methods for every single other copy protection scheme espoused by every other label on every other album at Best Buy.
Also, please be prepared to update these codecs as the record labels see fit or the iPod and iTunes may no longer be compatible in an effort to keep ahead of nefarious CD pirates.
Also, please CC: this message to anybody else you know that makes CD player apps (Nullsoft, Microsoft, Roxio, Sony, etc, etc
Finally, please forget about that old 'Redbook' standard for CDs. That is old and should be cast off upon a pile of 8-Tracks, Divx discs, and CSS.
Thanks for your time.
Love, Tom
Re:right... (Score:2, Insightful)
What amused me was this line "The companies say they have long been aware of the work-around but that they were not trying to create an unhackable protection."
I suppose that if they only stop the lowest common denominator from doing the unauthorized copying its good enough for them.
However the handling of the iPod issue leaves something to be desired...
Statistics: 90% made up; 100% misinterperated (Score:5, Insightful)
From what I understand, most people who used to buy CDs from before Mp3s were popular STILL DO. Sales are up aren't they? I personally never used to buy CDs. I would just listen to the radio. Mp3s are convienient because they are commercial free and I can play DJ, but if they didn't exist I would be listening to the radio and not buying albums. Most people I speak to feel the same way.
Re:Not surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
I was a huge GnR fan back in the day, as well as STP. I won't be buying this album, however, as it's not a REAL CD by the established standard.
As much as I'd like to have all the songs, if more of us 'drew the line' somewhere, we'd have our voices heard.
Acquiescing to the RIAA just reinforces their silly little business model.
Re:SunnComm (Score:3, Insightful)
The company in question has moved onto a slightly more complicated version, which requires a physical crack for consecutive reads, but it's still very simple to break.
Re:Put it on an iPod? (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if any of the labels have asked Apple *not* to provide samples of all the songs on a given album. I mean, I listened to a couple of these songs' snippets, and, gee, it's really nothing to write home about. I wonder how many of the people who have bought the physical CD got a chance to listen to it, and how many people who didn't listen to it were disappointed when they got it home...
Re:What shits me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oops! (Score:5, Insightful)
One will do as well as the other, so far as they are concerned.
Re:How to get the songs onto iPod (Better way) (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:But.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Buy one, return one: the way to go... (Score:3, Insightful)
But, if you really like the music/the band but hate the protection, then you should buy two copies. Buy one and return one. The music company will realise something wrong if the customers can boast the return rate somehow to double-digit.
Re:This is TRIVIAL to bypass (Score:5, Insightful)
I bought an audio CD, and I have a fair expectation of what that means. It does NOT mean somthing that installs software silently and without asking on my pc.
Re:How to get album onto iPod (Score:3, Insightful)
Great idea! This will be wonderful, especially after somebody releases a hack that makes iTunes think you have a particular CD in the drive...
This makes a lot of sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't this increase the consumer's need to rip it immediately?
Re:funny (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon $13.49 + Ship / iTunes $9.99 (Score:5, Insightful)
- burn it unlimited times to unlimited CD's
- back it up to HD, to CD, to DVD, to floppy, if you must
- copy it to unlimited iPod's
- copy it to unlimited PCs, play it on up to 5 simultaneously
- stream it to up to 5 machines from one Mac or PC
- hook it wirelessly with lossless audio via optical connectors to your home stereo with Airport Express
Copy-Protected Optical Media
- play it in only one place, once at a time
- scratch it once, lose it forever
- repeat after me: it is not a CD if it is not Redbook
So which one are you going to buy?
C'mon, guys. Less raving! It's MediaMax. (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it funny reading all these outraged posts about how the disc is not valid red book, etc, etc.
The protection on this disc is very light, and will really only catch the casual user. If you know what you're doing, it's very easy to bypass.
I find this protection a breath of fresh air. It is almost as if the publisher is saying "Here. If you know enough to bypass this, presumably you understand copyright law and won't swap files." No scheme will stop a dedicated cracker, so they offer one that doesn't even try. In fact, the publishers even acknowledge it isn't a very secure scheme. Yes, their trust is probably naive, but that's their problem not mine.
See this article [princeton.edu] for a description of MediaMax.
This is quite Funny (Score:5, Insightful)
The record gets passed around on all the file sharing networks and usenet newsgroups.
This free advertising results in increased sales, driving the record to number 1.
The pointy-haired bosses at the record company believe that the increased sales prove that the copy protection scheme is working and issue congratulatory press release.
Re:This is TRIVIAL to bypass (Score:4, Insightful)
Well said. It's quite sad that they seem to be getting away with this, and that the press isn't covering it from that point of view.
Re:It's not acceptance... (Score:5, Insightful)
Its been said before but its valid every time, what seems important on Slashdot to the majority of people here isn't important to the majority of people in the real world.
Re:Does it stop LInux? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, I listen to Guns N' Roses back in the late 80's and early 90's.
I talked to Duff (the bass player) when he was working with John Taylor (Duran Duran), Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols), and Matt Sorrum on Neurotic Outsiders album.
Yes I also listen to Stone Temple Pilot.
Yes, I've heard of Wasted Youth
But I am not really anticipating anything of Velvet Revolver.
The main reason I bought Velvet Revolver CD is because it was previously reported that the CD would be Copy Protected. I just want to find out if I still can rip them.
As for 200,000+ other people, they love this so called "supergroup"
Well, I ripped the whole CD on my Mac with no problems at all.
Once again, I have yet to try it on the Linux OS.
I'll find out about it tomorrow.
Re:What's the point? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:How to get album onto iPod (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope you're right.
But I doubt it. Meaning no disrespect to anyone by my use of dialect, I think it's more a case of "Oh massa, dem new chains is so shiny, I's be heppy to fassin dem ons me an' git right in yo boat, suh".
The difference, of course, is that Africans, proud of their freedoms, didn't line up willingly to be slaves in hopes of wearing shiny bonds -- but we modern Americans have become so neglectful of our liberties that we'll give them up for the next boy band's CD or the facile assurance that the next intrusive government surveillance program really will finally guarantee our safety.
Like Esau in the Bible, we willingly give up our birthright of liberty for a mess of pottage -- for Consumerism's shiny trinkets and the bland assurances of the Fascists who whip up our fears and then promise to protect us from our freedoms.
If this CD stays at the top of the charts, expect all new CDs to be copy-protected -- but worse than the copy-protection will be that we will take for granted that copy-protection legitimately should be there. The Corporation's triumph isn't in getting you to buy a copy-protected CD or a particular kind of DRM; it's in getting you to accept as natural and legitimate and right that by buying a CD or a shrink-wrapped software title you now must forever afterward ask the permission of the seller to use what you have honestly purchased, that you must acquiesce to the seller forever setting the rules and conditions under which you can use what you have bought.
In short, you've been changed from a purchaser of a good to a renter of a license and have consented to be taxed and regulated in perpetuity for the privilege of renting.
Thomas Jefferson dreamt for his country a Republic of proudly independent freeholders, each man the owner of his Real Estate; George Washington, drawing on the Bible's prophet Micah, foresaw an America where "everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid". Instead we're turning into a rabble of peasants and share-croppers slaving for, and kowtowing to, the modern day Lords of Corporatism. And we put on our chains so willingly!
Re:Great quotes... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just wait till you read the article (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:But.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the label bother to mention that it isn't actually a CD, or are they merely relying on consumer ignorance, such as that you display in your post in calling it such?
Are the stores stocking it in their normal manner for CDs, instead of in a seperate section as they should? Not doing so could well be considered consumer fraud by the retailers, it might not be out of line to drop a line to sundry Attorney's General if such is the case.
KFG
You can rip it in Mac OS X (Score:5, Insightful)
But hey, could always buy this album online from the ITMS (and, possibly, sprinkle a bit of PlayFair on your download
The REAL Reason for Sales (Score:5, Insightful)
Next, they'll be claiming that the sales is actually due to the copy protection. My first instinct when reading this story was to download it and see if I liked it.
Since it's selling, it must be worth buying. Hence more people download it, like it a lot, and buy it! Wow... what a concept.
Oh, and the copy 'protection' doesn't work. Broken via any number of simple means no doubt, but the simple truth is, there are no less than FIVE torrents for the full albumn right now on my favorite tracker site.
Hehe.. funny.
Meanwhile, I've taken this whole issue a bit less seriously, especially when the there are more pressing issues to worry about going in the world today. Nobody is being killed for copyright violations (yet?).
Re:How to get album onto iPod (Score:2, Insightful)
the whole purpose of this is to prevent people from transfering it to a digital format, by allowing for them to download for free from itunes defeats the purpose, but also it screws itunes over since it costs them bandwidth.
belive me, i am as anti copy protection as anyone but this is not the answer.
if you look at it the solution is that p2p does not actually harm sales and all we need to do is to prove this to the whore mongoring assholes (riaa and associates)
Re:right... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, holding down the Shift key to prevent the DRM from being auto-played and auto-installed does the trick.
And if you scroll down, you'll see literally dozens of comments from Slashdotters crowing about how easily they ripped this CD to MP3 or Ogg or ACC or whatever format suits them.
And what that means is the RIAA has won this round.
What do I mean by that? This CD is a trap, and everybody who is crowing about how easy it is to circumvent its copy-protection has fallen into the trap.
The trap consists of two parts: one, as Mr. Roadkill (731328) explains here [slashdot.org], because circumvention is so easy there will not be any en masse returns of this CD. BMG will declare that the public doesn't mind copy-protection because there will be few complaints or returns, and its massive sales given the publicity BMG is giving to this release. And with that they've slipped in the thin edge of the wedge, begun accustomizing us to copy-protection.
But more than just copy-protection: as The-Bus (138060) demonstrates by copying the entire CD EULA [slashdot.org], BMG will also
They're not just sipping in the DRM keys; they're slipping in a whole different legal interpretation in which to understand CDS, an interpretation that emphasizes licensing instead of purchasing.
And that's just the first part of the trap.
The second part of the trap is even more insidious: BMG has purposely used a trivially simple and already well known to be easily circumvented copy-protection in order to encourage you to circumvent it.
Why would BMG do that? So they can point out all the happy, crowing, boasting circumventors to the Congress, call all the people holding down a Shift key "hackers" (indeed SunnCom's already said they don't expect this to be "unhackable"), and thus justify legislation to made DRM mandatory. "See what those hackers did, Senator? They hack our state-of-the-art copy-protection, those evil wizarsds! That's why we must make a hardware copyright bit mandatory on all new CD and CD-ROM players!"
Every time you think you've scored a point by managing to rip this CD, all you've done is to further play yourself -- and you liberties -- into the hands of BMG and the RIAA. You're given them a precedents to point to and a spurious "threat" to whine to Congress about. Who's really winning here?
Re:This is TRIVIAL to bypass (Score:5, Insightful)
BTW, notice the deliberate manipulation here? They choose an album guaranteed to get high sales because the band is pieced together from two well-known bands, then claim the high sales proves copy-protection is acceptable to the consumers. (When probably it's just so feeble that it wasn't even noticed most of the time.)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, for
I expect that for the most part, it will be the latter.
Getting people to boycott anything is a pretty difficult thing - although it did work in bringing down apartheid. However, with apartheid, there was an alternative to African apples. There is no alternative to your favourite band, and most will not have the conviction to neglect their band and fight against DRM.
Re:right... (Score:3, Insightful)
But aside from that, I think your post is probably a good summary of how the RIAA sees things...
In a word: Fear (Score:3, Insightful)
This is just another shot across the bow. Ideally Joe and Jane consumer should be thinking thusly, "They sued all those people! Our CDs now have protection! Uninstall that damn eMule right now!"
All the record companies have to do is get x amount of sympathy going and the P2P gravy train will go further underground. As Joe and Jane opt-out (perhaps they don't want to get sued or perhaps they're sick of 'subsidizing' those who don't pay by dealing with DRM) out of P2P there goes another node and a strict lesson to their kids, "I better not find any P2P software on there." And then this meme travels to the water cooler, "You believe this? I gotta use this stupid Sunncomm player because of all the thieves out there!"
Then the average P2P enthusiast isn't seen as a harmless overzealous yet poor music fan, but as a criminal who is making your life hard. They then hate them and blame them for the reactions of the RIAA. Heck, they may even buy DRM on purpose so they don't get "stolen goods" on their computer or as a 'moral' action.
In other words they want you to understand that they're serious about copy protection infringement and want you to feel bad about it. Once you sympathize with them, they win.
I'll let the reader decide whether its best to let them win or not.
Re:This is TRIVIAL to bypass (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you going to tell me that I have to get rid of my keyboard because it has a SHIFT key on it?! After all, according to the DMCA, it's a circumvention device and is therefore illegal!!! oh well...i guess i better get used to not having a shift key...the other day i realized that the caps-lock was no longer useful since i don't write in cobol. i guess that was premature since now i can't have a shift key... bastards11111111
Re:Just wait till you read the article (Score:1, Insightful)
First they start with high-sale cds, then once more and more cd's are becoming copy-protected because theres a "workaround", its becoming more accepted in the industry and the general public at large is unaware, they change to a harder to hack format, labelling it as an upgrade.
They firstly have to prove "customer acceptance" and thats where a this very basic and easily surpassed protection comes in to play.
I would venture it will also be written on new band contracts someday that you agree to release your songs only on copy-protection cds. If it hasn't already started.
The proper way to deal with this (Score:5, Insightful)
1- purchase the CD
2- Optional: rip & copy it
3- return it and get a refund because it doesn't play on your equipment.
(2) is optional. The proper and law-abiding way is to not rip that CD.
If the return rate goes to around 10% or so I think the message will be pretty clear.
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Two quotes:
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
"The tree of liberty must from time to time be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots."
Both are quotes from Thomas Jefferson.
Re:How to use the Line In feature: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What shits me... (PARENT - PLAGIARISED) (Score:2, Insightful)
http://cfdr.eu.org/issues/cd/
without attribution to the original author (who incidentally is 'Jim Peters'), then modded up to be 'Interesting'.
Perhaps there should be a PLAGIARISED moderation section, with a link to the original article.
Whenever the topic of Music and CDs the natural progression of the discussion eventually leads to a few posts of fair use, yet this poster has not used 'fair use' with the copying of the text (almost ironic).
Re:Just wait till you read the article (Score:3, Insightful)
A foot in the door, buddy.
Cheers
Stor
Re:right... (Score:2, Insightful)
As it is, people who are willing to pay for CDs are still buying them because they know they can rip them despite the copy protection. If the RIAA sees this acceptance as a green light to go through with more stringent copy protection, this chunk of people might start to not buy the abulms they would have otherwise bought and resort to piracy, a higher level of it than if they had non copy protected CDs. The variable factor as to wether or not this would have any effect is how big that chunk of the population is. Hopefully it would have enough influence to affect some change.
Re:What shits me... (Score:3, Insightful)
My pet theory is that the reason all DRM schemes are so hopelessly weak is that whenever the music industry confronts a competent programmer with the request to build a DRM scheme, he immediately throws up his hands and says it's impossible to do properly. The only people who will attempt the assignment are those who are too incompetent to understand that the schemes can't work.
Re:How to use the Line In feature: (Score:3, Insightful)
~S
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Patriotism has nothing to do with democracy, a nation has nothing to do with freedom and a tyrant can work across all borders made by men.
Re:right... (Score:2, Insightful)
Personally, I feel that there will ALWAYS be a way to circumvent CD protections. So, as a relatively bright guy with extensive knowledge of computing and active in the software/CD piracy scene, I'm not gonna worry about it. Let the RIAA and MPAA feel that they are successful as people are still buying CDs and living by DRM laws. I will sit quietly here in the corner and circumvent their protections and rip their music and DVDs for my personal pleasure. I'm not even scared of hardware designed for DRM. There will always be a market for hardware that bypasses the protections and it will be available.
Basically, anything that can be built by a man, can be unbuilt by another. So no worries here.
-1, Uncapitalist (Score:5, Insightful)
This strongly suggests that the "protection" exists solely to undermine legitimate personal use. There is no possible anti-piracy use for preventing only half (?) of your users from format-shifting. They know as well as we do that there will be the same amount of internet piracy of the album whether it has this protection or not.
THEREFORE, it's time to entertain theories as to what their real motive is. The two that spring to mind are:
Ultimately they're clawing for all the mindshare they can get, because they only really exist as long as you believe in them.
Re:right... (Score:3, Insightful)
However the handling of the iPod issue leaves something to be desired...
Maybe they should suggest people look for the files on KaZaA instead of ripping from their legally purchased CD?
Re:This is TRIVIAL to bypass (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly what does it "upgrade"?
Its like receiving a email "I love you, click this link".
"I will upgrade your computer - just click ok!"
Good way to fool innocent computer illiterates though.
[any spelling mistakes came from the internet(tm)]
Re:low tech way (Score:3, Insightful)
easy choice - the CD please (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:funny (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:all it takes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
What a bizarre country! Are you seriously saying they *have* to let you cancel the sales contract unilaterally for no reason other than that you want to?
don't you *read* what you post about? (Score:2, Insightful)
wording of the prompt (Score:3, Insightful)
no wait.. it actually should say that, because that's all it is. i haven't seen the exact message, but if it's not clear & honest these companies should be taken to court for lying to people. this is the kind of thing that really gets on my tits. there has to be a law that covers this in most 1st world countries?!
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because a sellers claims you can't return opened merchandise, doesn't mean it's true.
You bougth something, expecting it to be a standard CD. (reasonable, given that the copy-protection is typically poorly marked, and the CDs stacked up on racks intermixed with the non-CDs) That is, you gave away money, reasonably expecting to get a CD for it that would play in any machine capable of playing CDs.
When the piece of plastic you got infact is not a CD, and infact is seriously inferior to a CD, by not playing in your computer, not playing in many car-stereos, not playing in your playstation, not playing in your DVD-player, not being rippable so that you can listen to it on your mp3-player and so on (all of which would work fine with a CD), then there's very little doubt that the merchandise you bougth is defective, and you have the rigth to return it.
That BMG contract misses the "return for a refund" (Score:5, Insightful)
Surely, the whole claim behind these EULAs is that you can change the terms AFTER the sale, if the contract gives you the option of returning the product for a full refund.
The refund is suposed to make it comparable to a sale.
This BMG contract says "if you don't agree, don't play it" not "if you don't agree return it for a full refund".
So they're not even putting a pretence of making this legal.
Sheeple (Score:2, Insightful)
No, the sheeple will contentedly line up to have their pockets raped, provided they can instantly have the latest 30 seconds of digital clipping noise and shiny video. If they had spines, the RIAA wouldn't have succeeded with screwing everyone to the tune of $10-12 profit (or more) on every CD they paid a whopping $1.25 to manufacture and package.
If getting ripped off for an 80% profit margin wasn't enough to wake the sheeple up, why would you think they'll raise a stink about DRM?
Most of them are even uneducated enough to think it's a problem with their "old" CD player, and will spend even more money fixing a "problem" that never was.
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Pedantry alert:
Actually, that one is from Wendell Phillips [wisdomquotes.com], although according to that link, it's a common mistake to attribute it to Jefferson.
And it's refreshed, not watered, I believe. It sounds better, too, Sounded good when Ed Harris said it, anyway ;-)
Re:wording of the prompt (Score:2, Insightful)
Get over it. I am 36 years old and I have always been told that smoking would kill me.
As far as I am concerned, no matter when you started, you have known for over a third of a century that cigarette smoking will kill you. If you kept at it during that time, you deserve a long drawn-out, painful sickness and death.
The whole "tobacco companies are evil" and "The Truth" campaigns are just representative of the shitty state of America today; the "it's not my fault - I am not responsible for my own actions" attitude that plagues our country.
Re:Sheeple (Score:3, Insightful)
Because as every slashbot knows, there's no more cost to the production of any given music cd than the cost to press it.
Re:How to use the Line In feature: (Score:3, Insightful)
1. mp3 is a lossy format there would be no noticable loss encoding it for a portable mp3 player, and playing it back on headphones.
2. IANAL, but copyright law has always allowed one copy for backup purposes.
Re:How to use the Line In feature: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, it's a messy situation there. I think there's an argument that it fails "fitness of purpose" if it doesn't play in a bunch of standard players. But there's also an argument that there's a responsibility of the consumer to fully inspect the merchandise. The best legal thing (ob. IANAL) for the consumer to do is simply ask the merchant "Will this work in all my standard CD players?". If the merchant says yes, you now have grounds to return it when it doesn't.
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
What does that mean?
GET
OFF
YOUR ASS
and VOTE
Re:How to use the Line In feature: (Score:2, Insightful)
So you are listening to symphonies? Classical music CDs are probablably not protected.
Most of the copy protected shiat is teen pop, so sound quality doesn't matter much. Even the original master tapes sound like crap. I wouldn't worry much about signal degradation.
Re:What shits me... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A lot less (Score:3, Insightful)
You might as well claim that RIAA CONVICTED a bunch of kids of STEALING MUSIC, when in fact they settled copyright infringment suits.
Re:Answer: don't copy CDs (Score:2, Insightful)
What this means to me as a DJ (Score:3, Insightful)
But the real loser, as usual, is the artist - their music isn't being played in the club so no public performance royalty, and their CD is returned so no points or mechanicals. (If you buy lots of records, stores are fairly cool about believing you when you need to make a return.) So the artist makess no money and loses out on a promotional opportunity to boot (i.e. "Hey DJ, what was that song you just played...?")
People who buy don't realize... (Score:2, Insightful)
This should tell them that the people buying the CDs probably don't realize what it is that they are buying and are going to be pissed when they find out.
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
If they sold you defective product, yes. This is
You assume a whole lot of honesty on the part of big companies (in this case, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc..) where the truth is that they WANT people to think these DRM-laden peices of drek are real CDs. Even if 50% of the people who buy them want to return them cause they don't work, maybe 10% (a VERY generous estimate) will make sufficient stink about it to get past the Customer Service smurf-droid and get it back. On the other hand, if they stocked them seperately and labeled them as "Digitally protected Music" (or somesuch), with a little explaination of what that means, they might have 1% of the sales the otherwise would have. They're just playing the law of averages.
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Larry
My way of protest (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Actually, this one *IS* a standard CD. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't mean people are happy with it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Well offcourse, listen to the way the rich execs market it. THey are saying that they want to prevent the evil criminals out there from stealing their property so they put copy protections on it. What reasonable adult is going to argue that statement? Especially someone who is not a techie (most politicians, hell most people).
Now who is to counter it? The techies? Most of which cannot compete with multi-billion dollar industries? It is lack of knowledge, and those in power are either biased (read: paid off) or they just have been swept up by corporate BS.
Logically you can't argue with "we are trying to prevent criminals from stealing", but they are omitting a lot of facts like "well there are people who want to back up their copies or transport them to other formats."
Re:Actually, this one *IS* a standard CD. (Score:3, Insightful)
Step 2: Let it quiet down.
Step 3: Bring up the idea of specially made CDs, and suggest making it a standard. The techno-crowd gets pissy.
Step 4: Let it quiet down.
Step 5: Tag a 'hot new artist's' CD with an easily circumventable protection scheme. The techno-crowd gets slightly upset, but chuckles at the ineptitude of the massive RIAA.
Step 6: Make it standard. The techno-crowd complains, but follows with its trend of complaining only to the techno-crowd.
Step 7: Between driver updates, firmware updates, windows upgrades and media upgrades remove the 'easily circumventable' part. The fact that CDs have 'always had some sort of copy protection' removes ANY legal barrier the RIAA may have had. Who would oppose making the existing copy protection work better? Only the pirates, that's who.
Step 8?
Profit.
Re:It's a clear "win, win" situation (Score:4, Insightful)
I can think of an obvious one: Making money by selling flawed technology to CEOs who don't understand it.
Don't assume omniscience on the part of the music industry execs. You may think they're big fish, but there are smaller and smarter fish ready to scavenge from their kills.
Somwhere, somebody has made a lot of money from selling copy protection software, whether it works or not.
They'll always be copied (Score:2, Insightful)
One simply needs to connect the "analog" output of their CD player to a recording device (PC w/soundcard) and the protection can be circumvented.
As long as we are allowed to hear the music, it will always be copied.
There is no way of preventing music piracy short of bolting headphones to peoples heads!
Re:-1, Uncapitalist (Score:3, Insightful)
No they won't. Almost everyone who is really into music these days has an MP3 player. They won't borrow it from their friend because when they ask, the friend will say, "Oh, this piece of shit? I can't rip it to my iPod."
Unfortunately for the bastard copyright owners, that friend is also likely to continue with, "So I took it back and downloaded it instead. Here, I'll make you a copy..."