13 year-old kid breaks copy-protection!

[Claviusb]

Ya gotta love it! The CD companies came out with this new copy protection scheme that produces corrupt discs that won't play in regular players because they don't want folks copying the discs on their computers. Ya have to wonder how much money and energy they threw at this project, only to have the whole thing negated by a 13 year-old boy.

The solution is amazingly simple, naturally! There is a section at the end of the disc that holds the information that protects the disc from being copied on the computer, somehow (note the circled area in the image), a person takes a marker and draws a line through that area (taking care not to enter the area with the music data). The disc is ready to be copied now. I don't know if it will make a corrupt disc playable. I just saw this and wanted to post about it!

[Dave]

That's hilarious!:D All they're time and wasted money! Bunch of fools!:D LOL!

[pigmode]

Claviusb, I had nooo idea you were 13!!

[Claviusb]

...I certainly act it, don't I? :)

[pigmode]

Klattu barada nikto. :cool:

[Claviusb]

You've been gone, so you missed this one...

[pigmode]

Har.:)

[Grant]

Oh, this is great! I LOVE IT!!! The best part is that it's SO SIMPLE! You don't even have to use illegal software to do it with! What? are the record companies going to get felt markers banned now? :D

Claviusb Gort Jr., where did you read about this?

[Claviusb]

Go HERE. (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.chip.de/praxis_wissen/praxis_wissen_8725919.html&langpair=de|en&hl=en&prev=/language_tools) It's translated from German to English. Maybe joachim or Claus can give us a better translation...

:)

[Joel Cairo]

Remember folks, felt markers are killing music!!

Or is that home taping? Well, you get the idea.... :D

-Kevin

[Grant]

Next we're gonna see RIAA funded studies showng a correlation of rising Sharpies sales to drops in CD sales.:D

[Dave]

Grant,

LOL! Stop man....you're killin' me! Stop! LOL! (laughter, tears, more laughter).:D :D

Dang my ribs hurt!

[Gary]

This is great for the retailers, don't you think? You know how they have product tie ins? Buy a box of laundry soap, get cling-free's for your dryer for 1/2 price?

Well I can see it now: Buy any three CDs, get a free sharpie! :D

[Beagle]

Right. And if you Armor All the outer area, it actually burns a copy for you!

[Sckott]

What have I been saying all this time!?! I don't mean to brag and boast but it's very true... NOTHING is copyproof anymore. Will never be. Put a lock on something, and someone with lots of time, resources and patience will crack it. The insult to injury is, WE PAY for the Macrovision protection. Hey, why shoulnd't someone try?

It's so absolutely stupid. Just leave the music alone. Groan.

[BradOlson]

We know you are right, Sckott. Nothing is copyproof and never will be.

[GoldenBoy]

I have heard that on certain Windows PC's that those Universal copy-protected discs just show up like normal CD's anyway, without any need to circumvent the 'protection'. I saw it on the TechTV show The Screen Savers a few months back. But now, this marker thing, what a gas. Those industry guys are real braniacs; brilliant, Geniuses even. :D I wonder how much money the suits spent on this bit of wisdom. :D

[Gary]

Don't be so happy, GoldenBoy. Who gets to pay for this blunder? We do. Who gets to pay for the next generation of copy protection? We do. Who gets to pay for the lawyers and resulting lawsuits for this type of stuff. We do.

:mad:

[Sckott]

Nah, it's not directly the music people being "geniuses", it's the people they pay to formulate the protection digitally. The labels are doing what they think is right. Not sure, but this protection is Macrovision-built. Not sure if y'all know this, but Macrovision copy protection has notoriously been bypassed over and over again. It doesn't mean Macrovision is a bad company, it just means that anything you make digitally can be reversed engineered. Ain't no excuse.

This is just a deterrant by design. I'm with all of you saying, it's not worth doing if not done right.

[Beagle]

Yeah, I'd like to see how hard you guys are laughing when they come up with another protection scheme that ruins the sound altogether.

[Sckott]

Originally posted by Beagle
Yeah, I'd like to see how hard you guys are laughing when they come up with another protection scheme that ruins the sound altogether.

I'd laugh even harder (Nah, I'd just shake my head. Mass insanity is just a roadblock for everyone, to be honest). Stores would see discs returned at an alarming rate, and the record company would have to see lost profits, along with the lost data. Do that to artists trying hard to make their album heard to a public that can't hear it, you may have law suits. People paying $18.99 for a SINGLE CD at the mall, drive all the way back to return them. Douse the music buying flame? You betcha.

And it's all because you won't let junior rip a few mp3s to a hard drive that has an average 3-4 year expectancy. Also, be aware that people trading Mp3's don't always make Cds out of them. They just collect them like mad, and their HD fails. OOPS! Trust me, I see it every day. The odds aren't worth it. Just leave it all alone. The people trying to push copy protection into music aren't the only fools.

[Todd Fredericks]

I find this whole thing amazing too. Just a bit of black ink on the disc and that's that! The reality is that the barn door was opened many years ago and the horses are now educated. The music business (and every other "digital" distribution based system business) is going to sooner or later have to accept that the world is changing and so must they...

[GabeG]

Has anybody actually tried this??

I'm tempted to buy a protected disc and do as the article indicates and see for myself.

Also, how do they apply the protection to discs that contain nearly 80 minutes of music. Judging from the photo, there wouldn't be enough room for copy protection if music data was took up all the real estate on a disc.


- Gabe

[Sckott]

This is just one copy protection employed on music cds. Plus, there's protected Cds randomly throughout new title stock.

[Beagle]

I think they should just give it up. The industry made digital and CD format the standard of choice, it was basically forced upon people whether they liked it or not. Somehow it is poetic justice that they are now getting bit in the *** by it. Unfortunately a lot of people can be hurt by it. Suppose someone were to clone a DCC disc and spread it around for free access, in effect pissing in the water supply. We rub our hands together grin and drool at the thought of record companies "suffering" but artists and people like Steve have a livelihood here too.

I can't see any solution to this, whether music is available online or on CD format. There are too many people and too many computers and the floodgates have opened. Is it possible that a solution might be a totally different format? SACD's for example cannot be cloned.