Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
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This isn't such a loss as it is just an NSync album, but the implications are obvious: Macs rule.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991367
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NSync CD is copy protection "experiment"
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15:40__ 02_ October _01
Jeff Hecht
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The music industry is now testing different copy protection systems on mass market chart CDs, with copies of NSync's Celebrity on the Zomba label being sold in at least three different versions.

Those available in Germany have draconian protection, a slightly weaker system is used on the US disk and there is no protection on the UK version. The only visible clue is small print on the German release which warns "this CD is not playable on computers".

Sony will not comment on the NSync disc but a spokesman says: "We continue to test available copy protection technologies, and our goal is to implement copy protection on a broader basis to deter digital piracy."

"Sure I am aware of it," says Maria Ho in Zomba's New York office. But she had no comment to make by the time of publication. Sebastian Kahlich, at Zomba's German headquarters, would also make no comment.

Julian Midgely, of the UK Campaign for Digital Rights, says: "The record companies are using customers' money to fund their own experiments, by throwing different systems onto the market to see who notices, who cares and what they can run with."


Stop, play


Sony presses the German disk at its DADC factory in Austria. Sony DADC also developed the key2audio system used to protect promotional copies of Michael Jackson's latest single.

All three discs appear to play on consumer CD players, though Super Audio CD players from Philips and Sony took around 30 seconds to recognise the German version. Both the UK and US versions will play on a Windows PC and both let a PC CD burner make a copy onto a blank CD.

But the German version does not even play on a Windows PC meaning users cannot listen to music they have bought, while they work. It cannot be copied to blank CD or sent over the internet using a PC. Nor can it be ripped to a solid state portable, such as an MP3 device. However, Apple Mac users have succeeded in playing the German disc.


"No disk"


Copying using home CD recorders is variable, with the US CD giving a "no disk" message on some recorders.

When the digital output from a CD player is connected to the digital input of Philips CD recorder, or Sony Mini Disc recorder, the German disc gives the error message "Copy Prohibit" or "Cannot Copy".

Although all CD copy protection systems can be defeated, with only slight quality loss, by connecting the analogue output of a CD player to the analogue input of a digital recorder or PC sound card, the convenience of automatic track indexing is forfeited.

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15:40__ 02_ October _01

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I give it a month at most before the h4X0rZ take care of it.

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Registered: Aug 2001
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In the case of N-sync albums, I would prefer copy protection that prevents it being played on anything at all, especially the radio.

In teh more general case, I won't buy things that can't be at least played on my computer, even if I can't copy them.

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and DVDS cant be copyed either

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they're changing the rules in the middle of the game. it's legal for you to make one personal copy of a cd, so that you have a backup in case of any damage. at least, it was.


and i can't listen to it on my pc? uh...my car's radio plays CDRW's, which means that it probably won't read that cd. so i couldn't listen to it in my car, either.

not that i would with this one, anyway. this is ridiculous.

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Was the protection something that was OS specific?

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Bastards
I nearly only ever listen to cds on my computer...fuckers

Luckily I am not a fan of N-sync
Hope it doesn't catch on!

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Registered: Jan 2001
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And the copyright cold war continues. In the end it cost the consumer not the record companies. It will take minutes before all the download sites have shareware CD protection removal software. They tried in vain to protect floppies It's all a big game.

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Re: Copy Protected CDs are out there now.

quote:

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Originally posted by Nutrimentia
Sony DADC also developed the key2audio system used to protect promotional copies of Michael Jackson's latest single.

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Wot the same way MJ made his latest single available on his website in a redirected WMA format which was streamed through stream rippers and converted to MP3 format and shared over WinMX and the Gnutella network in less than 24hours?

(Gee I wonder who did that?)

I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the German 'protected' CD and see how long it'd take to crack it

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dacarlo




I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the German 'protected' CD and see how long it'd take to crack it

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MicroShaft is teh lose!

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Okay this is how it works... When the master copy of the audion cd is made a Table Of Contents(TOC) is written to the CD. Now When your computer reads it it looks for the TOC at the beginning of the CD or closest to the center. On the other hand normal cd players search for the TOC over the entire CD. SO it could be anywhere, If there is no TOC or it cant be found in the proper place it gives a "No Disc" error. Theres really no way around it unless you write a program to search the entire cd for the TOC, but then again theres a "No Disc" error when you put it into the driv!! Hmmm... Sounds Like A Fun Challenge!!!

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this is also the same reason why the first generation of compact discs wont work in your computer!

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Now... The other way the copy protection is done, the (the one where you can play it in cd rom drives but cant copy it) is done by a special type of laser that is used to burn the cd, the grooves, if you will, that are burned into the CD are burned half as deep so a computer when trying to copy it picks it up as a lot of scratchies... The downfall of this is a great loss in quality...sorry bout the 3 posts thing..just forgot some important info..

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quote:

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Originally posted by SocialParasite
I give it a month at most before the h4X0rZ take care of it.

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like i said.. you cant copy DVDz either....

that took crackers like 15 mins to do

dvd is alot stronger than cd

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It's all caap, you don't even have to be a hacker, I could take the optical9digital) out, to the optical in on the soundcard, press play on one, record on the other and TA DAH!. Only gotta do it once.

-m

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i love mord

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Mord, I was thinking the same thing about that. I can't imagine how they can stop people from using the ins/outs.

I while back I rented a CD that had the magnetic theft-protection stuck right to the top of the disc. When I ripped it, the imbalance caused quite a ruckus and scared me that it might damage the machine. I ended up just ripping it in real time to avoid the high speed spins.

This type of asymmetrical CD might be one way to combat 'piracy.' It won't stop people from ripping, but it makes people rip it slower. More importantly though, with regard to software, I can also see some kind of technology evolving that can coorelate the amount of wobble as a key of sorts. Instead of just putting in the disc as copy protect, you have to put in a disc with matching wobble.

Nothing is hacker-proof, we all know that, but there most definately are ways to make piracy more difficult. I know that PS6 queries a PS server that verifies the legitimacy of your copy, but there are ways around that. How long until certain programs require net access to run?

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Photoshop 6 and poser both want to query servers. Such a shame that means I pirate them.

-m

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quote:

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Originally posted by macker


It's already been done. There are several replacement .vxds floating around on the net for windows PC's.

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Sweet.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mordecai
Photoshop 6 and poser both want to query servers. Such a shame that means I pirate them.

-m

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