[Dixielandjazz] Update on the Sony fiasco for copy protection.

[Andy.Ling at Quantel.Com]

Snip....
> Schilling says. "Sony should be in 
> the artist business, promoting and selling records. This type of issue 
> sheds a negative light on their ability to do that?
> 
snip...

> However, many artists have spoken out about all forms of copy-protected 
> CDs, including Matthews, the Foo Fighters and Christian rock band 
> Switchfoot.  Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are set to release a new 
> album on Sony in January and it will not be copy protected, says Fleck's 

> manager, David Bendett.
> 
> Frustrated when he bought a copy-protected Dave Matthews release and 
> couldn't copy into his Apple iPod, Fleck insisted that Sony not release 
> his new album with such restrictions, Bendett says.
> 

This type of copy protection raises several issues. What I find so bad
about the Sony method is the "underhand" way they have gone about it.
This software gets installed on your PC without "asking" and in a way
that makes it really difficult to find and remove.

That in itself is bad enough, but then to open up a hole to allow
malicious software to hide on your PC really takes the biscuit.

But at the end of the day, what is the point. I'm betting that it wont
take the experienced hacker very long to get round this copy protection
and they're the guys that are supposedly taking sales from Sony.
As has been pointed out, you cannot stop people recording the audio
output anyway.

I have only come across one CD with any type of copy protection on it.
A Humphrey Lyttelton album. I wanted to rip it on to my PC so I didn't
have to keep the CD in the computer. So I fired up my fairly old freeware
ripping software and it spotted the audio with no trouble. It also told
me about some data on the CD, which was how I found out it had some
copy protection stuff on it.

I always turn off all the "auto run" stuff on my PC so CDs to not
automatically play when put in the CD drive. This helps control what
gets run and what gets loaded. I don't know if it would stop the Sony
stuff, but it is worth considering.

My feeling is, Sony could have spent their money more wisely

Andy Ling