DRM Follies

When good CD copy-protection goes bad – oh wait, there is no such thing as good CD copy-protection:

EMI’s copy-protection technology has resulted in a Melbourne resident doing exactly what the company is trying to prevent – copy a music disc in order to listen to it.

Stephen Marovitch, creative director of the Simon Richards Group which is based in Port Melbourne, picked up the latest Norah Jones album on April 25, and took it to work.

Once there, he tried to listen to his new acquisition, using his Titanium laptop which runs version 10.2 of Apple’s operating system. There was no response, with the disc not being recognised.

One can’t blame Marovitch for not trying – he tried to listen to the disc on a workstation which runs Windows 2000 and then on one which runs Windows XP.

In both cases, he got no joy. The disc was not picked up by the system.

His response was to send an email dripping with sarcasm to EMI.

“Just a courtesy email to inform you, that as a result of problems experienced playing the Norah Jones CD containing your Copy Control measures on Apple OS10.2 Titanium Laptop, Windows 2000 workstation and Windows XP workstation, I have now been forced to copy your CD just to listen to it,” he wrote.

“In all circumstances the CD drives could not recognise, load or play the disc. Maybe you should consider displaying a warning on the covers of all of your CDs i.e. Warning: This CD may not work!”

“Please congratulate the genius that concocted this anti-pirating strategy.” [The Age]

Causing delight the world over and on its way here – stop the CD music protection madness before the Boston Tea Party is reenacted with CDs. Australia seems to be particularly cursed with this menace.