Copy-protected discs: How much do I hate them and what can I do?

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OK, so these new "copy-protected" CD's. In order to play them on your computer - as you do if you are, say, at work, like me - they want to update your drive and install software.

Now if you're at work on a network where you need admin priviliges in order to install or update any software, these discs are functionally unplayable. I've bought a £15 paperweight.

What the heck can I do? And please don't say "Oh, download such and such a patch to break the code" because if I could download patches and install software on this machine, then I would be able to play the disc in the first place.

These copyright protection discs are supposed to *prevent* piracy, yet they are driving me *TO* piracy, because it seems to me that the only way that I'll be able to listen to this disc at work (Where I listen to 75% of my music) is to make an analogue copy of the music and burn it to another disc. In which case, I'm so cross that I will make copies of the CD for all my friends just to spite the freaking arsebandoliers who did this to the CD in the first place.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

― angry at work, Monday, 2 June 2003 07:53 (twenty-two years ago)

make an analogue copy

i've done this on a couple of occasions and it sounds utterly perfect. don't fear the analogue cable.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 2 June 2003 07:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I complain yet again about the stupidity of the record industry? Their stupid pointless nanny-ism aimed at stopping bootlegging has just turned me into a bootlegger.

― angry, Monday, 2 June 2003 07:59 (twenty-two years ago)

seconded.. I listen to a lot of the music on my MD discman, yet I can't transfer my protected CDs to MD..

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Monday, 2 June 2003 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

you can download exact audio copy, put it in secure mode and rip it to your harddrive, then burn a CDR of the album. might need to turn autoread off for the CDROM drive if the disc automatically brings a special player up when you insert it.

i recently ripped a comp that was copy protected when i discovered that even after you installed the special player you only got to listen to the music as mp3s at 48kbps. for fuck's sake.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 2 June 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't work, because I can't install Exact Audio Copy on my computer. I'm going to have to take this to a friend's house who has a stereo and a CD burner and make a copy manually. And then this CD is going right back to the shop because, like I said, it's a £15 paperweight right now, and all the pretty package design in the world doesn't make me less cross about this.

― angry, Monday, 2 June 2003 09:25 (twenty-two years ago)

It's one thing to do this on promo copies which I didn't pay for - fair enough, I didn't pay for the music, I don't have the right to do what the heck I like with it. But when I've actually PAID for a CD, and, more specifically, the music on it, I have the right to listen to that music in whatever private venue I feel appropriate. Surely this is not legal. >:-(

― angry, Monday, 2 June 2003 09:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Was Philips ever able to force labels to remove the CD standard logo from the packaging when they do this?

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Monday, 2 June 2003 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)

There is no CD logo on it. I did not actually see the copy protection thing until *after* I had purchased the disc - because the shop itself were too afraid I might nick the CD if I had access to it before buying it.

What REALLY burns me up, is that this is a compilation album - it's Spiritualized Volume 1. I already OWN most of the tracks on this album, because I've gone and bought all the singles and rare 12"s and B-sides and crap. There are only two or three tracks I didn't have before on this disc. I really bought the thing so that I could have all of the tracks in one place. So not just do I already own the right to listen to these tracks, but I own the right DOUBLY. I am already pissed off at the record company for suckering me into buying a double CD of tracks I already own, but a CD I am UNABLE TO LISTEN TO.

Grrrrrrrrr. I knew I should have just downloaded them from my friends and burned them myself. In the future, I shall do so.

― angry, Monday, 2 June 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

protest with your pocketbook.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Monday, 2 June 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't this the thing where you can mark out the outer edge of the CD with a black marker to make it work?

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, take a look at this site. This is how the marker trick is done.

P.S. - I hear from another site that you might want to use a dry-erase marker instead of a permanent so in case you mess up you can try again.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Monday, 2 June 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey! Thanks! That is a great idea! I will try it on a promo CD first (because I would like to still be able to take the CD back to the shop if it doesn't work) but it's worth a try!

― angry, Monday, 2 June 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Fabrice: probably only optical copying to MD is protected, analogue should work. MiniDisc rules so much.

― Orange, Monday, 2 June 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

the Audio Bullys album is only the second CD i've bought this year and is the first time I've encountered this Copy Controlled thing. There are all kind of files bundled onto the CD which you can view and access on a PC but the audio tracks themselves are cunningly hidden somehow. i guess either the marker pen or analogue recording from external source are the way to go but i'm sure someone will develop a program to 'break' these CDs soon (in fact they surely already did).

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 2 June 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I complain yet again about the stupidity of the record industry? Their stupid pointless nanny-ism aimed at stopping bootlegging has just
turned me into a bootlegger.

Actually, if you paid for the disc, you're legally entitled to make copies for your own use.
You can also legally buy something, burn it, and then give the original to a friend, and so on ad infinitum, so that next time Madonna makes a record, only one person has to buy, if everyone is patient they'll all get their turn.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 2 June 2003 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

of course, I'm not a lawyer, and have no qualifications for giving legal advice.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 2 June 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

however, expect my bill for non-legal consulting services in yr mailbox soon.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 2 June 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

You're legally entitled to make copies for your own use, but the record company is not legally obligated to make it easy or, in fact, possible for you to do so.

You can also legally buy something, burn it, and then give the original to a friend, and so on ad infinitum

...this is completely wrong. The license resides with the original and is non-transferable. Once you sell or give away your license to own a copy of the copyrighted material, you are legally obligated to get rid of any copies you have. If the original gets destroyed or stolen, then your copies are still legal to own, but are illegal to sell or give away, since in effect your license was destroyed/stolen.

That said, I despise copy-protected discs and the whole mentality behind them. I buy more CDs than anybody I know, and instead of getting a nice thank you note from the record labels I keep in business, they treat me like a thief.

(To the original poster) Do you have the UK or the US version of the Spiritualized disc? I'm still wondering if the US version has the copy protection.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 2 June 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I accidentaly bought Broken Social Scene's latest which advertises copy protection. If I had known that I wouldn't have bought it. But I had no problem playing the thing at work and have since ripped a copy to the server I use to store music at work.
I R feeling no guilt.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 2 June 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I was wondering about just that disc, Noodles! Cuz I want to put a song on a mix CD I'm making for someone. You say you've had no problems?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 2 June 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

None what so ever. I always keep the windows media/cd player open when I have doubts about protected cds.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 2 June 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

angry: two possible solutions, but they depend on what kind of OS you are using.
If you have Win95/98, there is an alternate version of cdfs.vxd (the "compact disc file system virtual device driver") available for download at 100,000 different places on the 'net. After installing it, you can copy and paste the CD's contents right off the CD and right onto your hard drive.
If you have Linux: cdparanoia.

If you are using any other flavor of Windows: I've heard rumors that a win32 port of cdparanoia might be in the works. If so, your problems are solved.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Monday, 2 June 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that prevent software from autorunning or something?

(x-post)

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 2 June 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey angry,
if you try the marker trick, let us know if it worked!

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Monday, 2 June 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

well, the Broken Social Scene disc basically broke my computer--crashed everything that was running at the time (I stupidly forgot to save & lost some data).

I like how it says "break all codes" on the packaging over the UPC. I mean I don't like that. I mean urgh.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 2 June 2003 23:11 (twenty-two years ago)

This is so weird, all of the ones that I've tried that feature EMI's little Copy-Controlled scheme work fine (and rip fine) just as soon as I shut down the player that automatically pops up. I've said this elsethread though.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 2 June 2003 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

The player just whirred and whirred. Nothing even popped up.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 2 June 2003 23:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless someone can contradict me with first hand experience, I feel pretty safe in saying the marker-around-the-rim trick (with either black or green marker) is a myth.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 3 June 2003 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

first hand experience here. not a myth. but only works some of the time.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Weirdness with the new Blur disc, as played on my Mac: two folders appear on the desktop and in iTunes: Audio CD 1 and Audio CD 2. Both have identical contents: a number of audio tracks that will play, and what appears to be an approximately 15 hour long last track that won't play. Now get this, earlier today when I first tried it there were 8 tracks (ie I could play the first 7 songs). I just tried it again now and there are 12 tracks (can play first 11 songs). But There Are 13 Songs On The Disc, dammit why can't I have all of them? Oh, now I tried it again and it gives me 7 tracks. My brane is going to xplode.

― Poppy (poppy), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

so fuck for broken social scene's revolution -- hypocrites.

― Bosse-De-Nage (Bosse-De-Nage), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 02:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Great, I tried the dry erase marker and tried making an even circle by drawing while rotating the disc on a spindle. This did not work and the dry erase marker isn't coming off very well = the last two tracks are now fucked. Eh, probably serves me right.

― Poppy (poppy), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i've found with really long CDs (eg the Altered Images best-of), it's not worth trying for that very reason.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 02:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Unless someone can contradict me with first hand experience, I feel pretty safe in saying the marker-around-the-rim trick (with either black or green marker) is a myth.

Dan, you're getting this mixed up with the thing about a green mark around the outer edge of a CD making it sound better. This is about copy-protection, not sound quality, and using a marker on the face of a CD-- not the outer rim-- to break copy protection is very well documented across the web.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Great, I tried the dry erase marker and tried making an even circle by drawing while rotating the disc on a spindle

Did you look at the picture on the web site I posted above? you shouldn't need to make a circle.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 06:15 (twenty-two years ago)

It is the UK version of the Spz album.

I haven't actually tried the marker thing yet because I wanted to test it first - if I damage the album, then it loses both collector value and resale value (damn HSA threw away the receipt so I can't return it.) :-(

I tried dry erase marker on a test disk and it does not come off. I wanted to try the method on my other promo disc first (no big loss if that is destroyed) but it does not have the obvious banding that this album has.

Going to try another brand of dry erase marker now...

― angry, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmm - sugababes CD has protection and I figured out a way round it on my laptop. I'll try and remember...

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 10:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The only thing that seems to come *off* a CD afterwards is a highliter. Sigh. Will try that at lunch.

― angry, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 10:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't have any trouble getting off dry erase marks. If it doesn't come off easily, hit it again with the marker to wet it & then wipe it off immediately. (This even works on permanent marker.. -use a dry erase marker to rewet the marking & then it wipes right off.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

cor I don't know anything about this protection business. can someone gimme a link to something appropriate?

― DG (D_To_The_G), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

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