consumer rights and copy protection

[mankie]

Here's a solution.
 
 The record companies should offer two versions of every album...a copy-protected one and a non protected one.
 
 The price of a protected one should be $12 for example, and the non-protected one $48, for the "convenience" of being able to copy it and pass it on to your cheap-arse friends.

[Bags]

I shouldn't have to pay $48 because I want to put the songs in my iPod, or any other MP3 player (to deflect the Apple nay-sayers).
 
 I won't buy a copy protected c.d.

[markie]

Originally posted by Bagster:
 
 I won't buy a copy protected c.d.

but its easy enough to use some stream ripping technology.... the sort you get for recording internet radio, to rip a CD even if it is protected.....
 
 Its just probably easy to et it from a p2p if someone has gone to that effort already.
 
 Alienating the users at this point will lead them further into the download path.

[Justin Tonation]

Originally posted by Moon Mullins:
  Simple Flaw in CD-Copy Protection System?
 
 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Princeton graduate student said on Monday that he has figured out a way to defeat new software intended to keep music CDs from being copied on a computer -- simply by pressing the Shift-key.
 
 In a paper posted on his Web site late Monday, John Halderman said the MediaMax CD3 software developed by SunnComm Technologies Inc. (OTC BB:STEH.OB - news) could be defeated on computers running the Windows operating system by holding down the Shift key, disabling a Windows feature that automatically launches the encryption software on the disc.
 
 Halderman said the protection could also be disabled by stopping the driver the CD installs when it is first inserted into a computer's drive.

Clearly, the protection scheme takes advantage of a standard default setting for CD drives. When a standard audio CD is inserted Windows will automatically play it. Software and enhanced-audio CDs (CD-Extra, etc.) often contain software that automatically starts when the CD is loaded.
 
 To stop this from happening change the settings for each CD drive in your computer. For WinXP, click on My Computer, right-click the CD drive icon, click on AutoPlay, change the setting for each type of disc from the drop-down menu to "Prompt me each time to choose an action."