LONDON (Reuters) -- Technology buffs have cracked music publishing giant Sony Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology with a decidedly low-tech method: scribbling around the rim of a disk with a felt-tip marker.

Internet newsgroups have been circulating news of the discovery for the past week, and in typical newsgroup style, users have pilloried Sony for deploying "hi-tech" copy protection that can be defeated by paying a visit to a stationery store.

"I wonder what type of copy protection will come next?" one posting on alt.music.prince read. "Maybe they'll ban markers."

Sony did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Major music labels, including Sony and Universal Music, have begun selling the "copy-proof" discs as a means of tackling the rampant spread of music piracy, which they claim is eating into sales.

The new technology aims to prevent consumers from copying, or "burning," music onto recordable CDs or onto their computer hard drives, which can then be shared with other users over file-sharing Internet services such as Kazaa or Morpheus MusicCity.

Sony aggressive anti-piracy push
Monday, Reuters obtained an ordinary copy of Celine Dion's newest release "A New Day Has Come," which comes embedded with Sony's "Key2Audio" technology.

After an initial attempt to play the disc on a PC resulted in failure, the edge of the shiny side of the disc was blackened out with a felt tip marker. The second attempt with the marked-up CD played and copied to the hard drive without a hitch.

Internet postings claim that tape or even a sticky note can also be used to cover the security track, typically located on the outer rim of the disc. And there are suggestions that copy protection schemes used by other music labels can also be circumvented in a similar way.

Sony's proprietary technology, deployed on many recent releases, works by adding a track to the copy-protected disc that contains bogus data.

Because computer hard drives are programmed to read data files first, the computer will continuously try to play the bogus track first. It never gets to play the music tracks located elsewhere on the compact disc.

The effect is that the copy-protected disc will play on standard CD players but not on computer CD-Rom drives, some portable devices and even some car stereo systems.

Some Apple Macintosh users have reported that playing the disc in the computer's CD drive causes the computer to crash. The cover of the copy-protected discs contain a warning that the album will not play on Macintoshes or other personal computers.

Apple has since posted a warning on its website at: http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa/wa/query?searchMode-Assisted&type-id&val-KC.106882.

Sony Music Europe has taken the most aggressive anti-piracy stance in the business. Since last fall, the label has shipped more than 11 million copy-protected discs in Europe, with the largest proportion going to Germany, a market label executives claim is rife with illegal CD-burning.

Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/05/21/bc.media.cd.piracy.reut.reut/index.html

"Where theres a hacker, theres a way." :)

This protection stuff won't last long anyway, there's lawsuits in the works now that will prohibit the cd manufacturers to protect them from burning. The music industry deserves to die anyway, it's pretty f*cked up.

lol at sony


kinda like when winxp came out..... it was cracked the same day, if not before hand


will they ever learn

Again, as I've said before, I abhor the practices of some of these companies...but why do people find it humerous that they try to protect their investment, creation, or property?

What if you were a farmer, and I came into your field at night to steal corn, would you be mad?

What if you erected a fence, but I hoped it, would you be mad?

What if you electrified it, but I found a hole, and still got your corn, would you be mad?

Would you not do anything and everything to stop me from stealing your corn? Or would you just go, eh, he's going to steal it, let him? That seems to be what peole want the music/CD industry to do.

As I inferred in my earlier post, we actually have a legal right to rip and burn cd's for our own personal use, hence the lawsuits.

I completely understand what you're saying manu, I feel similar. I think file sharing services should be used as I use them - I check out a band I don't really know, and if I like them, I go buy the cd.

It would also be a little more understandable if cd's weren't $20 f*ckin each.

Oh, I agree completely....

I mean, I too use file sharing, but I always download songs that are either unlreased (live) or preview MP3s, and then buy the CD...

But you're right, we DO have a right to copy CDs we've purchased, and so that end, I agree 100% with the lawsuits.

It is just that the vast majority of people complain about copy protection because they want to rip someone off.

I am not stealing from a farmer, but from rich bands and spoiled companies. And on top of that, I usually only want 2-3 songs, not the whole cd. and when a cd costs about $1 buck to make, they are over-priced. etc. etc. etc.

Maybe when they lower the cost to about $5, I will be buying cds. Until then, bite me.

why do people find it humerous that they try to protect their investment, creation, or property?
Because I've heard a few horror stories about what the 'secure' CDs have done to people's computers. No one deserves that kind of trouble (unless they're trying to play Celine Dion). Anyway, when I buy a CD I rip it to hard disc first. It's so much more convenient to sort through a list of MP3s than to juggle cds.

the new copy-protection CDs won't play in macs. and they're not marked as being copy-protected, so if someone tries to put one in a mac, the computer will freeze up.
if you have a newer mac that does not have an auto-eject button (the pinhole), you will not be able to eject the CD, do anything to the machine, even turn it on or off to be able to eject the CD.
you have just reduced a 3,000 dollar machine to a very overpriced doorstop.
apple refuses to do anything about this, lest they offend the RIAA, so they've basically told people they're on their own.
"protecting investments" yeah, right.

Yup. That is 100% Mr. Wrong.

Apple has put a list of such CDs on their help desk though. But they will not warranty them.

Yeeeowch.

That isn't good at all.

Didn't they test this crap before they try to implement it? Or do they go the MS route and Beta-Test the Public with initial releases and refine it all in Service Pack X?

Sony's answer to this 'hack': Getting court to ban markers.

Read all about it right here (http://www.bbspot.com/News/2002/05/markers.html)

Apple's solutions (http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa/18/wa/query?searchMode=Expert&type=id&val=KC.106882)

They end by saying: "If a disc with copyright protection technology remains inside the drive after following the procedures above, or if the computer does not start up normally, it is recommended that you contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Apple Technical Support. Audio discs that incorporate copyright protection technologies do not adhere to published Compact Disc standards. Apple designs its optical disc drives to support media that conform to such standards."

...which means 'no promises', I suppose.

I hope that Apple goes bankrupt having to send techs out to remove these CD's under warranty and then sues the RIAA.

Yes, RIAA you have a right to protect your assets. But you're still evil and no one likes you. And for the record I will buy CD's from artists whom I've heard MP3's of, and may change my bying habits to only doing so.

Justin

Originally posted by Unrepresented
I hope that Apple goes bankrupt having to send techs out to remove these CD's under warranty and then sues the RIAA.

Yes, RIAA you have a right to protect your assets. But you're still evil and no one likes you. And for the record I will buy CD's from artists whom I've heard MP3's of, and may change my bying habits to only doing so.

Justin



or you could just stop buying cd's altogether... I mean prercoreded cd's of course

My point would be to instruct the RIAA that I will not buy music strictly from their developed traditional channels. As an informed consumer I can and will purchase their product because someone has to support them (plus I appreciate the difference in sound quality between .WAV and MP3 files). If I only buy from artists I've downloaded and encourage others to do so, it places the burden of making music available to me their responsibility if they wish to maintain my consumption of their product.

Justin