Jason Dunn
05-17-2006, 08:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=62836#62836' target='_blank'>http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=62836#62836</a><br /><br /></div>Digital Media Thoughts reader <i>sundown</i> posted a message in our forums last week that I wanted to highlight because it underscores the tremendous problem that's happening now with music CDs:<br /><br /><i>"I was excited to get a new CD in the mail today (Brian Shupe & the Rubber Band) and merrily popped it into my $1,000 cd player, aka my cool PC and got a quick lesson on how much the music industry stinks. I didn't download the CD illegally, I didn't make a copy from a friend, I bought it brand new, fair and square. Somehow the manufacturer, studios, I really don't care who, figured out how to screw up this positive experience. The CD popup provides for a way to copy it to your computer (even the cd case touts this feature) but it failed half way in with an error "authentication failed". Ooooookaaay. No options, nothing. I tried to play directly from Windows Media Player (WMP from here on) which tried to acquire the license and ultimately gave me a "page not found" error (I'm connected all the time to the internet via high speed). Four tries later, I've spent a half hour trying to get a simple freaking CD to play to no avail."</i><br /><br />So here we have someone who bought and paid for a CD, obviously wants to support the artist, and is going through hell trying to simply <i>listen</i> to the CD! He's not even doing something "crazy" like trying to rip the CD. :roll: The truth is, many modern CDs are like viruses, and you need to protect yourselves against them. Most CDs on the market today with DRM infect your PC automatically when you insert the disc. Unfortunately, Windows XP does nothing to stop this (thankfully Windows Vista will).<br /><br />Some quick rules to live by in this modern age of DRM'd CDs: disable autorun on your PC via <a href="http://features.engadget.com/2004/06/29/how-to-tuesday-disable-autorun-on-windows/">a registry hack</a> or hold down the shift key when inserting the CD until the drive has completely spun up. You can also purchase <a href="http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html?aid=50312">AnyDVD</a> [affiliate], which will bypass most CD DRM techniques (they're constantly releasing new versions). Sadly, we no longer live in a world where you can buy a CD and pop it in your computer without worrying about what software it might install. Isn't that sad?<br /><br />Comment in <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=62836#62836">the original thread</a>.