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Dysfunctional discs
'Copy-protected' CDs may not perform as you expect 02/21/2002
Question: When are audio CDs not CDs?
Answer: When they are copy-protected and won't play in computers that
"rip" tracks into the MP3 format. Or so says Philips Electronics, the
co-creator of the compact disc.In reaction to consumer concern over
tactics being tested by the Big Five major music labels, Philips
recently warned record labels that nonstandard CDs cannot carry the
"Compact Disc" logo that has been plastered on every audio disc since
1978.
A growing list of music releases, including those from artists such as
Charley Pride and Natalie Imbruglia, are being distributed with a
variety of technical nuances that curtail or prohibit copying by
consumers for use in car stereos and MP3 players.
Some of the methods being quietly tested by major labels unintentionally
prohibit play in older CD players, those made by certain manufacturers
and popular game consoles, say upset users who are amassing information
at websites such as FatChucks.com.
Consumer groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org),
are praising Philips' stance. The EFF, which is orchestrating a
letter-writing campaign in support of the electronics company, has
joined others fearful that users' rights are being eroded.
And the Philips posture also could portend a lengthy battle between
consumers and record powerhouses.
Bertelsmann's BMG, Vivendi Universal, Sony, EMI Group and AOL Time
Warner's Warner Music are experimenting with ways to stop sharing of
their products over the Internet through peer-to-peer networks such as
KaZaA and Gnutella – networks that attract millions of music fans daily.
Universal Music Group has announced its intention to add restricted-use
technology to all of its releases by mid-2002. Sony has confirmed that
more than 11 million discs using its key2audio system have been released
in Europe by several labels so far. BMG Entertainment, a BMG subsidiary,
confirmed that it was interested in the technology but stopped short of
confirming that any of its CDs on the market include the copy protection.
A spokesman for one of the largest sellers of CD copy-protection
measures, Macrovision, told The Associated Press that the identity of
CDs and labels using the technology could not be released in light of
nondisclosure agreements with music labels now test-marketing products.
Meanwhile, ad hoc groups such as the Campaign for Digital Rights
(uk.euro rights.org) and Boycott RIAA (www.boycott-riaa .com) say that
copy-protection efforts found in "dysfunctional discs" are ineffective.
If music can be heard, it can be copied, they say. Direct connections
between CD players and PC sound cards will always allow digital copies
to be made using simple software tools.
Copy-protection measures, they contend, only prevent CDs from being
replicated using the MP3 encoders of popular computer jukebox programs.
Moreover, the measures can corrupt CD data, introducing playback
problems for home and car audio devices.
What's worse, says Jim Peters of the Campaign for Digital Rights, the
Big Five often don't reveal that their products are being distributed
with these built-in limitations.
"In their attempts to create a CD that fits their aims, the record
companies have tried many methods of corrupting the CD format, and then
they have tested these by making secret releases into localized markets,
sometimes of hundreds of thousands of CDs," Mr. Peters said. "Everyday
people have then bought these substandard CDs and have been unknowingly
testing the record company's new CD-protection schemes for them."
The backlash has been gradual, largely because consumers often are taken
by surprise when CDs fail to perform as expected, Mr. Peters says.
About 100,000 discs of the German release Razorblade Romance, by
the Finnish rock group HIM, were recalled as defective by BMG because
they wouldn't play in normal CD players, much less computers. U.K.
releases of Ms. Imbruglia's White Lilies Island – copy-protected
by BMG unbeknownst to purchasers – prompted numerous returns.
In America, Universal's movie soundtrack, More Fast and Furious,
featured a label warning that the CD would not work on a small number of
players. But several large record store chains were forced to set up
return policies when angry users sought refunds.
"What we've seen so far is troublesome and cumbersome," Gerry Wirtz,
general manager of the Philips copyright office that governs the compact
disc trademark, told Reuters last month. "We worry [the labels] don't
know what they're doing."
Even when they add a disclaimer, record companies are meeting angry
resistance. A California consumer recently purchased a copy of C
harley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves that was labeled as unplayable
on DVD players. When she found tracks also couldn't be copied from her
PC to her MP3 player, she filed a lawsuit against the album makers.
The latest of these protection technologies creates "dual session" CDs
containing two forms of music tracks. One can't be copied to a computer;
the other can, but it can't be shared over the Internet or burned onto a
new disc.
Jessica Litman, a professor of law at Wayne State University in Detroit
and author of Digital Copyright (Prometheus, 2001), says the
copy-protected CDs may face more serious protests if they are ultimately
mass-produced.
"And I think that's totally appropriate," Dr. Litman said. "Consumers
are permitted under copyright law to make noncommercial copies of CDs.
We're talking about marketing a product that prevents an activity to
which they are perfectly entitled."
While record industry attorneys agree that the 1992 Audio Home Recording
Act prevents them from suing consumers who make personal copies of
music, they say it does not require copyright holders to make this power
available.
"There's no affirmative obligation to make this available," Leonard
Rubin, a copyright attorney with Gordon & Glickson told Reuters. "They
just can't sue you if you do it."
TESTING A NEW CD
Copy-protected CDs are those that prevent you from copying them
for personal use or from playing them on computerized devices
(computers, DVD players, game consoles such as the PlayStation, MP3
players, consumer CD duplicators, high-end stereo equipment and car CD
players).
In the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, many of
these copy-protected CDs are unmarked. Once you buy one, you can only
exchange it and see whether the replacement is protected, too.
The most reliable way to test a CD is to put it in a Windows PC
and try to extract one or more tracks from it onto your hard drive.
(Macs are immune to some of these CD problems.) To do this, you'll need
software known as a CD ripper or a CD audio extractor.
If you find that you can't extract the audio from the CD, try
other things:
• Try playing it normally in the computer.
• Try playing it on a PlayStation 2 or a DVD player.
If you have a MiniDisc recorder and a digital lead, try recording the CD
audio digitally.
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