[urlybird]

Check out this article about Sony's Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology being beaten by a felt marker ....

http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2...proof_cds.html

 

[Ken H]

Wonderful. Just what we need, more supposed justification for draconian CP techniques.

 

[Art Lloyd]

Ken,


I guess you could see it that way. It is also another of the endless instances where the collective force against copy protection proves far too great for the establishment. EVERY copy protection plan that allows for normal uses of the purveyed disk will be broken. These companies will spend much more in the effort to close down copying than they will save. They need political help to go after countries which do not enforce copyright. They don't need more encoding for other places. Art

 

[HDNLUVINIT]

While I've never copied CD's, dabbled in pirated CD's/DVD's or downloaded music from Napster (and have no interest in doing so), I must agree with a statement I read in one of these forums earlier this week: If the "industry" would lower the prices of CD's and DVD's to more reasonable levels, I believe the copying and pirating in this country would largely go away. There will always be those out there who will continue to try and defeat copy protection and or deal in pirated software if, for no other reason, than it gives them a thrill to do so. And, I think most people see it as a "victimless" crime - which it certainly is not. But, how much more wealthy do the "stars" need to be? Paying $17 or $18 (or more) for a CD is getting to be a bit much.

 

[Marissadad]

I agree with Jerry. I bought the large majority of my CD's from the BMG Music Club, average price about $8 including shipping and that's about the highest price I am willing to pay for a CD.


I hope the Warner initiative to lower DVD's to the $10 price point is successful.

 

[Dave Teasdale]

What will Laws in other countries do? Most hacking occurs right here in the good ol' USA consumers don't want copy protection. Companies do. People will always find a way around it if there is a demand. You have to stop the demand. That is a hard question to tackle.

 

[Man E]

It is interesting that the majority of proponents of the phrase "whatever the market will bear" seem to ignore that theft is part of that calculation.

 

[David McRoy]

Has anyone hear ever heard of the "green felt-tip pen on the edge of the CD" audiophile tweak? It's been around for years.

 

[carlosrojas-pdx]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Reeves While I've never copied CD's, dabbled in pirated CD's/DVD's or downloaded music from Napster (and have no interest in doing so), I must agree with a statement I read in one of these forums earlier this week: If the "industry" would lower the prices of CD's and DVD's to more reasonable levels, I believe the copying and pirating in this country would largely go away.

I agree with Jerry, I'm old enough to remember when CDs came out, at the time tapes costs around $8, but CDs started at $14-$16 or so for the same album.


I know that they have to recoup the cost of new technology, but for how long?


If I remember correctly, a couple of years ago the Justice Department was after the recording companies for "fixing" the price of CDs.


I think the music recording industry is going to continue to see piracy as long as their prices are high.


Just my $0.02


Carlos

 

[ragedogg69]

Here is my 2 cents:


Now with the current technology, I havn't bought a CD for myself in well over 2 years. Now this will change in a week when the new Eminem album comes out. Now why would I buy his album, even though I can download it from the internet 2 weeks before the official release? That is simple, he is giving me an incentive for picking up his first shipment of his album with a free DVD. I could easily download this off iMesh, but I loose all portability with it just on my hard drive. (I dont have a DVD RW)

So, if they give me a reason that says "buy my album because you can't get this special DVD anywhere else." I will buy.


That and I also received a $10 gift card.


IMO

 

[j.u.]

I agree with the majority of the post here that the prices are just too high for DVD's and CD's.


Recently I went to Blockbuster to rent "Behind Enemy Lines", total cost was about $6.43. I have to admit I was a little upset when I came outside and saw a friend buying the exact title for $10. But I was l Livid when I compared his version to the version I rented and couldn't see one iota of difference.


My copy had to be brought back to blockbuster in 2 days, his however was his to keep and view at his hearts content. :-(


Just an observation.

j.u.

 

[YardleyBill]

Just think back a few years when if you wanted to buy a movie, it was like $100.

 

[ragedogg69]

Yes Block Buster is the best place to buy previewed games and DVDs. If you can find a title you are still interested in, its a gold mine.

 

[spwace]

This story is the same nonsense as the green felt tip marker tweak. A story starts on an Internet newsgroup, spreads and is picked up in the legitimate press and repeated without fact checking. Rubbish!

 

[S. A. Moore]

There was a famous story about when they came out with magnetic

stripe credit cards, which were supposed to enhance security. The

maker sent the cards to students at a technical university, and asked

them to try to crack it, expecting that they could not.


Not only was it cracked, but in many ways and forms. The winner

was a student who showed that it was possible to make a copy of

the card by erasing another card, placing it back to back with another

card, and applying a clothes iron to the pair. Turns out heat can

enable magentic transfer !

 

[trbarry]

Quote:

This story is the same nonsense as the green felt tip marker tweak. A story starts on an Internet newsgroup, spreads and is picked up in the legitimate press and repeated without fact checking. Rubbish!

spwace -


Are you saying the story is not true?


- Tom

 

[spwace]

I would be shocked if it turned out not to be a hoax. Marking up a CD with a felt tip marker can only create data errors, it isn't going to fix anything. It's not the same as pressing credit cards together with an iron, this process is known and is actually used to make high speed dubs of master tapes.

 

[David McRoy]

I don't think we're talking about smearing marker ink all over the disc...just around the outer edge. If someone can identify a protected CD we could conduct a little experiment.

 

[Man E]

I can believe that it would work. How else would a combination audio/data or Mac/PC disk work (other than two sided)? An audio-only player looks for one kind of header on the disk, the PC will look for that, but apparently looks for the data header first. If you give it a data header with "self-destruct" instructions (unbeknown to the driver) it would have problems with the disk. If you occlude that data header from being discovered (i.e., effectively change the disk from a combination data/audio disk into just an audio disk), then the PC would proceed to read the audio header and work correctly. The location of the audio header was in place well before the data headers.

 

[gameboy]

The black marker trick does work. The copy protection works by storing junk data in the outer most data track that basically confuses CD-ROM drives that automatically reads data tracks first. Since most older CD players skips the data track, it works fine (also the reason why this copy protection does not work with some latest generation CD players).


The black marker just makes it impossible for the CD-ROM drive to read the data track and forces it to skip to the first audio track. Brilliantly simple!!!


The really funny thing is using the felt tip marker for this purpose is technically against the DMCA law and you can be fined AND JAILED (the news agencies should REALLY pick up on this theme)!!! So for those of you out there who believe in living STRICTLY by law (even when they are ridiculous), don't attempt this - EVEN if this is the only way you can access YOUR CD that YOU paid for.


Infact, the felt tip manufacturers may be sued and be criminally responsible for "providing tools that by-passes built in copy protection". Sure, since the black markers have other uses that is very well established so they are probably safe, but if RIAA wanted to pick a fight, CDMA is on their side.


Fight the power, Rise up - JUST SAY NO TO DMCA!!! Copy and post as much music as possible!!! (at your own risk, of course )