Directory of Corrupted Audio CDs Resources

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Several "anti-rip" schemes for CDs insert chunks of garbage data to produce errors in CD players.

Newer audio CD players contain error-correction software designed to compensate for scratches and minor damage. The garbage data disrupts re-encoding of the audio into MP3 and other formats, while relying on error-correcting CD players to compensate for it. Some CD players, particularly car stereos, game consoles, and CD-ROM drives, cannot play audio CDs seeded with these errors.

These schemes are often inaccurately referred to as "copy protection", though no steps are taken to prevent verbatim duplication of the corrupted audio data to another CD.

Resources in This Category

• 'No More Music CDs Without Copy Protection,' Claims BMG Unit

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11/06/no_more_music_cds_without/
  "BMG is at it again, this time apparently set on applying copy protection to all its music products." By John Lettice. [Register]

• Another Class Action Over Crippled Music Disks

  http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/15/0250258
  News brief and reader discussion. [Slashdot]

• AOL Seeks Manager for Anti-Copying Push

  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-858181.html
  "AOL Time Warner is beginning efforts to add copy protection to CDs, underscoring the company's desire to limit unsanctioned digital distribution of its musical works." By Jim Hu. [CNet]

• Big Five Labels Sued Over Copy-Protected CDs

  http://www.itworld.com/020619cdcopy
  "Heightening the tension surrounding the music industry's efforts to guard its content in the digital realm, the five major record labels were hit with a class action lawsuit last week for producing and distributing CDs with copyright protection controls." By Scarlet Pruitt. [IDG]

• BMG Backs Down Over Copy-Protected CD

  http://slashdot.org/yro/01/11/18/0457230.shtml
  Virgin Megastores has responded to a complaint from one of their customers and said that BMG has set up a helpline to allow people who bought the corrupt version, to exchange it for a real one. Virgin and HMV will also be bringing in new stock of uncorrupted CDs. [Slashdot]

• BMG Stops Producing CDs

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/06/1312259
  "The Register has a new story about claims by Bertelsmann that they'll stop manufacturing uncrippled audio CDs." News and reader comments. [Slashdot]

• BMG to Replace Anti-rip Natalie Imbruglia CDs

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/19/bmg_to_replace_antirip_natalie/
  "Bertelsmann Music Group has had to back down on plans to force anti-rip technologies on British CD buyers." By Tony Smith. [Register]

• CNet: Protected CDs Quietly Slip into Stores

  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-270164.html
  "Consumers in ordinary record stores are unwittingly buying CDs that include technology designed to discourage the making of digital copies."

• Consumer Claims Victory in CD Lawsuit

  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-843114.html
  "Makers of a recording by country-pop singer Charley Pride have agreed to stop tracking most listener habits and to warn consumers that the CD is not compatible with MP3 and other players, according to attorneys for a woman who sued the companies." By Lisa Bowman. [CNet]

• Consumers in Crossfire of Labels' War on Piracy

  http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0304/p18s01-wmcn.html
  "The downside of copy-protected music CDs? Some won't play when consumers get them home." By Aaron Pressman. [Christian Science Monitor]

• Copy Protection On CDs Is 'Worthless'

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/06/2144242
  Reader comments on New Scientist article. [Slashdot]

• Copy Protection on CDs is 'Worthless'

  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3020
  "The technology built into some CDs to stop people copying them is futile, according to a computer scientist who has put today's antipiracy systems under the microscope." By Barry Fox. [New Scientist]

• Customers Put Kibosh on Anti-Copy CD

  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-276036.html
  "Complaints about anti-copying technology on Natalie Imbruglia's latest CD force her record label to issue replacements for angry consumers." By John Borland. [CNet]

• Felt Tip Marker Defeats Copy-Protected CDs

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/22/1439253
  News and reader discussion. [Slashdot]

• Lawsuit Challenges Copy-protected CDs

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/17/1435211
  Reader discussion of Reuters article. [Slashdot]

• Metafilter

  http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/9152
  Community weblog discussing protected and corrupted audio CDs.

• More Copy Protected CDs?

  http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/11/1436210
  Fat Chuck's maintains a list of corrupt CDs. Reader comments and discussion. [Slashdot]

• New Scientist: Anti-piracy CD System Raises Distortion Fear

  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn998
  "The first CD title has already sold 100,000 copies, but it is causing concern among audio experts because they fear that the music may be audibly distorted."

• New Scientist: New CD Anti-Piracy System Could Damage Loudspeakers

  http://www.rense.com/general12/news.htm
  "It is called the Cactus Data Shield, and it is designed to add noisy garbage to all copied CDs. The trouble is, it could also damage the hi-fi and loudspeakers of people who play pirated CDs."

• New Scientist: NSync CD is Copy Protection "Experiment"

  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1367
  "The music industry is now testing different copy protection systems on mass market chart CDs, with copies of NSync's Celebrity on the Zomba label being sold in at least three different versions."

• NewOlde.com - How to Detect and Avoid Copy-Controlled CDs

  http://www.newolde.com/copy_controlled_cd.htm
  Information for classical music listeners to help them identify Copy-Controlled CDs, including the graphics that appear on the packaging.

• Post-it Notes vs. Copy-Inhibited CDs

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/14/0040215
  News about Celine Dion CDs killing iMacs and black markers or sticky notes defeating some "copy-protection" schemes. Reader discussion. [Slashdot]

• Register: 'Hi-fi Nuking' CD Technology Safe Claims Developer

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/03/hifi_nuking_cd_technology_safe/
  Skeptical report on New Scientist's retraction of its warning that Cactus could damage speakers playing copied CDs. By Tony Smith.

• Register: 1M Anti-piracy Hi-fi Nuking CDs Hit Europe

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/03/1m_antipiracy_hifi_nuking_cds/
  "One million CDs have been released in Europe which are protected by the controversial anti-piracy system Cactus Data Shield... The Cactus Data Shield system is controversial because the technology could blow your hi-fi speakers." By Robert Blincoe.

• Register: Anti-rip CD System Bypassed

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/01/antirip_cd_system_bypassed/
  "Macrovision's SafeAudio technology, designed to prevent PC-owning music fans from ripping CD tracks onto their hard drives, has been bypassed." By Tony Smith.

• Register: CD Anti-piracy System Can Nuke Hi-fi Kit

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/03/cd_antipiracy_system_can_nuke/
  "Sony's Music Entertainment division has been testing an anti-piracy technology that at best renders illegally copied CDs unlistenable and at worse blows listeners' speakers." By Tony Smith.

• Register: Music Biz Patents Anti-rip Encryption Technology

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/17/music_biz_patents_antirip_encryption/
  "Details of the method appear in a patent filed by IFPI. The patent, GB2357165, centres on encrypting the track time codes stamped onto every music disc." By Tony Smith.

• Register: Old Code Defeats New CD Anti-ripping Technologies

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/10/old_code_defeats_new_cd/
  "Macrovision's SafeAudio and Midbar's Cactus - both new technologies designed to prevent CDs from being copied successfully - may have been defeated by software released over two years ago." By Tony Smith.

• Register: UK Campaigners Call for Anti 'Anti-rip' CD Day of Action

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/04/uk_campaigners_call_for_anti/
  "Campaigners will take to the streets of Britain this Saturday (6 October) in a bid to raise public awareness of the music industry's attempts to prevent listeners from copying CDs or playing discs on PCs." By Tony Smith.

• Register: US Record Label Sued over Anti-rip CD Technology

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/11/us_record_label_sued_over/
  "An unnamed Californian woman has sued US country music record label Fahrenheit Entertainment for allegedly misleading its customers by shipping CDs protected with an anti-rip mechanism." By Tony Smith.

• Slashdot -Stations Can't Play Crippled Music Disks

  http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/06/0031209
  Reader comments on The Age article reporting that some radio stations are unable to play copy-protected CDs.

• Slashdot: BMG's New Copy-Protected Audio CDs

  http://slashdot.org/articles/00/01/25/116237.shtml
  "BMG-Entertainment started selling audio-CDs using the Cactus Data Shield, a copy-protection system developed by Midbar and Sonopress which makes it impossible to grab the music from the CD and to listen to it using 'an old CD-Player' or a CD-ROM-drive." News and reader comments.

• Slashdot: NSync Copy Protected CD

  http://slashdot.org/articles/01/10/02/163256.shtml
  "NSync's new CD will be released in a least 3 different versions (with different copy protection techniques)." News and reader comments.

• Sony Intentionally Crashes Customers' Computers

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/03/226233
  "Celine Dion's latest CD will not play in computer drives. In fact: 'Should the consumer try to play Dion's CD on a PC or Macintosh, the computer likely will crash.'" News and reader discussion. [Slashdot]

• The Age - Copy Protected CDs: Artists Can Be the Losers

  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/03/1048962867084.html
  Article pointing out that music companies which use copy protection may be denying the artists under contract to them legitimate play time on radio stations.

• The Register - Congressman Assails CD Copy Protection

  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/08/congressman_assails_cd_copy_protection/
  Copy protection tracks implanted in CDs are a violation of the right to fair use of purchased music, writes a US Representative to recording industry lobbyists.

 

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