12-03-2002, 01:00 PM
|
|
Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
|
|
Sony's Death Grip
In an unprecedented effort to bring their consumers frustration levels to new heights, Sony is readying a CD protection scheme (see definition #2) that is sure to drive the peer-to-peer software usage to all corners of the globe.
They call it Label Gate. Label Gate.... Label Gate, Magic Gate, Watergate, Travel Gate, whatever. A bunch of guys sitting in a back room sucking on stogies planning to fatten their wallets through the unconscionable use of power over others. Ok, that may be over the top. Watergate probably doesn't belong in this group. :wink:
How does Label Gate work? Every track on the CD is encoded. Supposedly this doesn't affect normal CD players, but computers won't be able to play or rip any tracks - well, not without Sony's proprietary software. (Do you ever see the word "Sony" with "proprietary" not being far behind? :? ) Just install this software on your Windows based PC. Sorry Apple and Linux users. You're out of luck. So, install the software, register with Sony and you can decode the tracks to your PC. Once. ONCE! For the incredibly low price of $1.64 each. Each track that is, so figure about $20 per 12 track CD that you have already paid $15 for from the store. And if you get a new PC, or somehow lose your music? Well, Sony has you covered. You simply re-rip it... at the special deal of $1.64 per track, or you can bulk purchase 10 tracks for $16.40. What a sweetheart deal!
I can tell you one thing - there won't be any Label Gate CDs in my house, car or office. I used Napster for a few months and Kazaa a few months after that but removed it after spyware/adware was introduced. I sampled quite a bit of stuff and wound up buying about 7-8 CDs I would have never bothered with and deleted what I didn't purchase. If any of my favorite artists show up with this Label Gate junk, I'll probably buy a cheap $500 PC, load Kazaa and all the popups that come with it and wait for the music to be copied, 'cause it will be copied. Then I'll buy the CD so the artist gets their $1 per CD and throw it in the trash before I leave the mall.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 01:16 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 197
|
|
Unfortunately, the Lable Lobby seems to be louder than the user lobby. This kind of stuff flies exactly in the face of the "intellectual property" argument the lables use to explain why you pay $20 for a CD that costs $0.52 to make (an argument I happen to agree with). The problem is, if you're paying for the property, you should have the right to freely change it's medium as long as you don't sell it (or really even give it away) to someone else. The technology already exists to make the lables nearly obsolete. I wonder when the confluence of Internet prevasiveness and fed-up-with-the-Lable-ness will reach the point where it becomes common for artists to bypass the lables entirely. (Some already do.)
__________________
HTC HD2 US (unlocked) + 16GB micro SDHC (in holding)
HTC Evo + 16GB micro SDHC (in use)
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 01:16 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 40
|
|
DRM will never work. If the music is presented to the user on a computer in an unencrypted format (e.g. by letting the user play the song on your propriatary player) there will be somebody who figures out a way to hack it. Simple as that. The funny thing is ... it will happen just because it�s a challange.
Untill then ... no more SONY CDs for me, thak you very much. :wink:
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 01:27 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 80
|
|
They're going to have to outlaw Inputs.
If I can hear the music on my stereo, I can feed it back into the input jack of my sound card, and re-digitize it. Once I've done that, I have an unprotected MP3. Unless they outlaw that technology (and somehow enforce it- are they going to put 50 million of us in prison?), all Sony will be able to do is piss people off enough to feel justified in passing those unprotected MP3s to all their friends- all 50 million friends. They may think they "have the power", but the real strength is in numbers- the numbers of consumers who might not bother to "demand" their fair use rights, but will take them anyway, one way or another.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 01:45 PM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
|
|
The article makes some points about why people want to trade songs; the high cost associated with buying a CD that may have only one or two "good" songs on it could be one major reason. I've always contended that if the record companies made it easy for me to pick and choose the songs that are put onto a CD, I'd pay considerably more for that CD. If I could put 12 songs that I really wanted onto a CD, I'd gladly pay $2 per song.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 02:07 PM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 333
|
|
Re: They're going to have to outlaw Inputs.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by sesummers
If I can hear the music on my stereo, I can feed it back into the input jack of my sound card, and re-digitize it. Once I've done that, I have an unprotected MP3. Unless they outlaw that technology (and somehow enforce it- are they going to put 50 million of us in prison?), all Sony will be able to do is piss people off enough to feel justified in passing those unprotected MP3s to all their friends- all 50 million friends. They may think they "have the power", but the real strength is in numbers- the numbers of consumers who might not bother to "demand" their fair use rights, but will take them anyway, one way or another.
|
Its technically feasable to make in inconvienient to do what you want to do. Try it now with a video or DVD. You can't get a clean recording on a VCR of a commercial video or DVD. Macrovision prevents you from getting a clean copy.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 02:07 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 60
|
|
I might run a book on how quickly it gets hacked!
No, sorry, thats stupid thinking -
it'll have been hacked before it's official release date!
Jayman
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 02:09 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 212
|
|
Boy, I have to hand it to ya, Ed. If there's any thread that's gonna challenge the record for number of posts, in my mind, this has to be it.
Sony just burns me up. :evil: What are these people thinking??!!!?? It's like they're on a pilgrimage to tick off as many people as they can. No one is going to pay that kind of money just to burn a stupid CD. All this is, is greed. Another way to line their pockets with more gold. The only trouble here is that Sony is too retarded to realize that consumers AREN'T retarded.
I'm all for paying for an artists work, but these Sony suits are nothin' but con-artists with nice clothes. As long as a consumer is purchasing the CD and not turning around and making money off of it or advertising it, it belongs to the consumer to do whatever they please with it.
I say be honest and buy the music, but as far as this stupid-copy protection scheme is concerned, I say rip, shred, burn, or whatever you want to call it, and do whatever it takes to get around this. I will NEVER pay for this.
All Sony has done here is piss everyone off. If anyone has any reason to engage in peer to peer music sharing, this is the log that's gonna make the fire really go. If anyone had any problems with sharing music, Sony just made sure they don't anymore. I may not figure out how to get around this scheme, but someone will. And I have absolutely no guilt in using whatever tools will be available to me to bypass this Sony stupidity. Just because you find a way to make money off of something, doesn't mean you're justified in doing so. I mean, do the artists get a percentage of this new profit stream? I don't think so. Like these Sony suits don't have enough money already. No honor among thieves. I have to think that this is where the fight really begins.
Sony: You just got yourself a war.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 02:09 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 651
|
|
Well that's the great thing about analogue, I can play the cd back in my studio cd player(which even has a digital out that bypasses DRM) and input the sound into my mixer while preserving the sound  . It's funny how these companies think they can put a stronghold on people to make them do what they want :evil: . It only takes 1 copy of that "Un-Rippable" cd to hit the net and then it's all over.
|
| |
|
|
|
12-03-2002, 02:09 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 78
|
|
Re: Sony's Death Grip
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Then I'll buy the CD so the artist gets their $1 per CD and throw it in the trash before I leave the mall.
|
Rather than buying the CD and funding Sony's largesse, you could just send the money directly to the artist involved,... :?:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
