The Latest Music CD DRM

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121949,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121949,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The record industry has been targeting online music sharing for years, but now it has undertaken a new war--against "casual piracy." Sony BMG and EMI have begun shipping compact discs using technology that limits the number of copies you can make of any disc to three. And you can't port songs from affected CDs to Apple IPod players unless you request a workaround from Sony. The move, along with other recent developments in copyright protection such as the Supreme Court's ruling this summer in MGM v. Grokster, a copyright infringement case pitting Hollywood against the Grokster peer-to-peer network, could have a lasting impact on your entertainment choices. And you may not like the remix."</i><br /><br />A very interesting article - the overall idea of three rips of a CD seems reasonable (I only need one), but DRM-protected WMA files? No thanks - nothing but hassle for someone who lives in a multi-device world (four desktops, two laptops, Pocket PC and a Smartphone). The first thing I do when I get a DRM'd WMA file? Burn it to CD and re-rip to get the track I want the way I want it.

[Ed Hansberry]

The first thing I do when I get a DRM'd WMA file? Burn it to CD and re-rip to get the track I want the way I want it.
Amen. And if that fails, I'll go through the VERY tedious process of recording the tracks with Total Recorder and then converting them to unlocked WMA files. I have no intentions of sharing music. I don't even have bit-torrent or other file sharing services installed, but I'll be darned if I am going to let a record company tell me what device I can/can't listent to music on!

[bikeman]

"Three rips of a CD seems reasonable." Excuse me? I burn a copy of the CD for use in my car. Where CDs get scratched. Then I might want to burn a replacement. I also like to make compilations. And I don't fill up my hard drive with ripped songs - I burn then delete. But wait, now I can't rip another copy of something that I bought legally. Sorry. Bull fritters. Sony won't get my money. Of course, none of the artists I currently like are on Sony's label anyway.

[ShinKen]

I recently purchased the new Mary Mary CD that has this copy protection. Since I have autorun disabled on the 'puter the CD would not play at all in iTunes, WMP or J. River's Media Center. However CDex was able to see the audio files without any problems. It displayed the audio tracks and two addition files on the CD. I was able to rip the tracks to monkey's audio with no problem.

I agree that this is just another stupid move by the record industry that will not have any effect on major piracy. Like many people here, I have several devices (treo, iPod, tivo, car) that I send music to, and I do not care for them telling me how many times or where I can play music that I have purchased.

Again this will not stop people who are bent on sharing/pirating songs. It is just an annoyance to people who actually legally purchase music.

[Jason Dunn]

"Three rips of a CD seems reasonable." Excuse me? I burn a copy of the CD for use in my car.

I said "rips", not "burns". :wink:

[aro]

"Three rips of a CD seems reasonable." Excuse me? I burn a copy of the CD for use in my car.

I said "rips", not "burns". :wink:

By "ripping" you don't mean "copying", right?

If I understand correctly, someone can "rip" a cd to mp3, wma or whatever
format only 3 times but can copy the resulting audio files as many times we
want on CDs, DVDs, MP3 Players or any support. Is that right?
If it is right then I don't see the big fuss about DRM problems.

aro

[Jason Dunn]

If I understand correctly, someone can "rip" a cd to mp3, wma or whatever format only 3 times but can copy the resulting audio files as many times we want on CDs, DVDs, MP3 Players or any support. Is that right?

Well, that's where it gets a little fuzzy - they specify three rips, but they don't mention how many burns would be allowed. I'd also suspect they MEANT burns - as in, three burns per rip, so say nine burns in total. But I'm just speculating... :?

[bikeman]

I said "rips", not "burns". :wink:

I understood that! That's why I said that I burn then delete (the ripped copy of the songs). If I kept a copy of the ripped songs on my hard drive, I'd need one of those NAS drives. Or three. I may be the unusual case, but I re-rip the songs each time I want to create a new CD, or add it to my PPC storage card, etc. I'd go through three rips per CD very quickly. I still think that if I bought it legally, it's mine to do what I want, legally. I don't share files or pirate songs/movies, but I do like to listen to my music on different devices and in different compilations.

[sub_tex]

ugh.

Why would I want to get less out of a CD than I have been getting for years now?

How about this: stop trying to tell us what we can and can't do with the music we paid for.

Simple, right?

:roll:

[Damion Chaplin]

It seems to me the easiest and best way to implement DRM on CDs (or anything else) is to establish a universal, cross-platform, cross-label user code for each person. You use the code when you copy or rip a CD (or DVD). That code is embedded in the file (or copy) and thus can only be played on devices with your code. If you try to play it on someone else's player, it will prompt you for your code (so you can take a copied CD and listen to it at your girlfriend's house).

This way, we won't be able to share our ripped files, but we wouild still be able to do with them as we please. Share the files all you want. No one else will be able to play them.

It's either develop a universal system like this or do away with the DRM altogether. It's not working the way it is and push it any further and you will be unacceptably restricting our own access to our own CDs (which will just spur me to download it illegally). Sorry, artists, find a less nefarious label.

The music companies need to know that we won't stand for it or they will keep taking our fair use rights away from us. If the label does something you don't like, don't buy their CDs. Show them how flawed their implemetation is by refusing to cooperate.

That's my two cubits. Sorry for the rant. :)