OT - CD Copy Protection

[mick7777]

Has anyone else been noticing the number of CD's which now won't play through a computer due to so called copy protection? Well on my DAW is where i have my monitors and that is where i get the most enjoyment from listening to other peoples work. I know i could just buy a protable cd player and hook it up through monitor ins, but i've been getting more and more annoyed by this.

I understand the need for some form of copy protection, and the damage that has been caused by copyable products, but this is taking it too far

So yesterday i returned a CD (i won't mention which) to a store after purchase because it wouldn't play on my pc. I only have an average home stereo at home and cd player in my car, none of which represent the quality of my monitors on my DAW. So from now on if it isn't going to play on my PC then they can stick it!

Just my two cents worth...

Oh yeah just did a search on copy protection and guess who's got their hands in the pie...?

Dirty hands?

[bladesg]

It is annoying especially if you want to make a back-up for your car.
I have found that if you want to copy one of these protected discs it can be done with Clone CD or Alcohol 120% software. When CD is in the drive start program and it will find the CD, these are the only burning apps I know of that will do this. I know that if you use Clone CD it will actually copy the CD and protection, meaning your copy will not play in the PC either. This is OK if like me you want the back-up for your car. The only other way I know of is to connect your CD player to PC via S/PDIF or even RCA and record the stereo signal to your DAW.

I am NOT advocating the illegal copying of CD's at all, this is only done as a means of back-up.

[nukmusic]

This is nothing new. But by Law( I think ) a warning should be listed on the cd cover.

[hgen]

Sound Forge will read them and open them up. Just save as wma file. Just press shift as you insert the disc because the protection is on track 1 or b4 track 1. Anyway it works, burn a disc from windows media player 9 from your wma files if you want a disc.

[Paul Curtiz]

Don't know 'bout you guys in the US, but in Europe, some of the copy protection systems (Sony/Virgin/EMI) not only stop you from playing the CD on your computer, but when you try to play it on your car CD (and I'm talkin Blaupunkt) either it doesn't play or it doesn't allow you to select tracks. You have to listen to the whole CD or nothing. So now the majors are deciding WHERE I should listen to music ? I don't think so. As stated before, it doesn't take much to rip and copy them. But I hardly think that was the point
Also, when you do copy some of these CD's, beware of that one large extra-track at the end. That's just 10 minutes of white noise pushed as close to 0db as humanly possible. Play it at a loud volume and chances are you'll blow your speakers and destroy your ears (Now, there's a lawsuit I would like to see).
I happen to listen to most of my non studio-related music in the car, and I don't think I'm alone at this. I don't believe it is illegal to listen to an official CD in my car. And I think they are aware of the situation. At the very least, they should print a legal notice on the CD.