Buying music on a CD?? Be warned!! >:(

[Grojlach]

btw Charean, those letters are for real? They're quite rude...

[Sir Krustin]

Two comments: they state that 250 million cd-rs are sold. How in hell can they assume that all of that is audio recording?!?!?! I buy tons of cd-rs and next to none of them are audio, and most of the audio cds I burn are "compilation" discs for the car...which are plainly in the "fair use" clause of the copyright act.

Second, I don't see how any such copy protection could work. Mind you I don't know the details, but I've copied many a cd that claimed to be copy protected with zero problems.

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by Charean: It is still possible to download music off the net. What is really a pain is that if I didn't have a CD player, I couldn't play tunes. After all, there are times it is nice to play music when you are online or playing a game. Too bad the music industry is so insecure. Thank you Metallica! (Insert dripping sarcasm here)

This brings back some funny memories...anyone else see the flash movies about metallicas prosecution of MP3 users?

"Beer good, fire bad!" heheh

[Charean]

Yes Sir K - those were a riot. If I can find the link, will post.

As far as I know, the letters are real. I got them here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28009.html

[Lord Lothar]

How does a marker get rid of cd protection? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[whacky]

They'll be sorry to know that efforts like that wont help them a lot, it might scare the standard computer users into buying copyrighted and EXPENSIVE music CD's but not the hardcore music and computer geeks. Like there were phrozen and
razor 911 for computer game cracking so we will all witness the rise of copy protection software crackers, why dont they simply understand the harder they hit us with unfair copyright laws the harder we'll hit 'em with cracked, pirated and warez wares, i'm not ready to pay that load of money for softwares let alone music, so i am against MPAA, as long as they dont give heed to our words so wont we to them. The solution, simple, come to an agreement agreeable to all, the consumers and the manufacturers, no other way is gonna work in stopping software piracy. 'Nuff said.

[ 11-09-2002, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: whacky ]

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

How does a marker get rid of cd protection?

Well , the copy protection on music CDs is just a single blank data track that a CD-Rom will try to read before it move on to the other tracks on the CD. Since it is basicaly just a blank spot the CD rom wont read any further into the CD ,so it wont recognize any of the other data or music on there. By covering the blank track with a marker the CD rom never sees the track , so it just skips over it and goes straight to the data on the CD. The data track causes problems with music CD players that can read computer data because they will react to it just like a CD rom would and thereby make the CD useless for that particular CD player.

NOTE TO MODS* if this is considered a "crack or warez" item according to the TOS please delete it and P.M. me so I dont mistake this for a lost entry and repost it.

[antryg]

Here's some information on how the music industry works in the United States. A major label signs a band and records their first CD. Since they are a new group they have no leverage and get a standard contract. If they are smart they were able to retain copyright to their music and only have to do 1 or 2 CD's. Because this group is so wise and musical they are an instant hit. They reportedly sell 1.2 million copies of their first disc. The company tells you that 200 thousand of those were used as promo material or were remandered (they were returned by retailers as unsold). The company says "trust us" that's what really happened even though we can't actually show you documentation on who we gave copies to or physically show you the returns. So you accept that you actually sold 1 million copies. The record company then charges you for studio time, their engineer etc., intrument/microphone rental, advertising, merchandising, accounting for your account, interest on any cash advances, and more stuff than I can remember. Your lifeblood and creativity which retailed for 15 million dollars at retail gets you and your 3 bandmates 20,000 dollars EACH (pre-tax).
Usually bands end up selling all rights to their work to get signed and have to make 4-5 cd's at this rate of pay. Oh, and by the way, we want you to tour in support of the cd but you have to do it without our help unless you are willing to pay for it.
Obviously not every band makes it big and sometimes a record company loses money (see Mariah Carey). Yet I've never seen 4 record executives living in a van and eating unheated canned food.
Maybe if 50 record company executives weren't living like millionairs on the work of of every band that does OK we would have reasonablly priced and easily available cds in every genre.

[Animal]

Here's an interesting link for you folks in Europe regarding new copy protection on audio CD's, specifically they may crash your PC if you tray to play them in your CD ROM.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2107848,00.html

Can you say lawsuit?

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Nanobyte: Define "free." Why is it that musicians, who collect millions each year in sales and are prone to waste it on objects most middle-class families only dream about, feel it is their right to collect their "due" from the overworked and underpaid portion of society?

Eh? Except for the top 1% of us, to be a musician IS to be overworked and underpaid.