Take a look at this Slash-dot article:
It’s not enough they want to charge me 16 bucks for a Britney Spears CD (well, that would be assuming I’d buy a BS CD, but that’s getting off-topic), they also want to make it so I won’t be able to play cd’s on my PC or make backup copies. Bastards.
Just for that, I will crack and pirate the hell out of any copy-protected cd I find. Just the copy-protected ones, though. In the words of a famous duck:
This…means…waaaarrrr…
On a possibly semi-related note, what is that incredibly irritating thing they are doing to CD’s that makes them bring up some stupid black window with an oh-so-wonderful picture of the singer that I have to close (and it crashes every time)then pull up my cd player to play cd’s on my computer? I really hate that thing. I want to stick a cd in my pc and have music come out. End of story. (This has happened on the Ricky Martin cd and the Jennifer Lopez cd that I borrowed from the library.)
If you are using windows 95/98 look for a utility from microsoft called tweakUI in NT/2000/ME there may be a utility that does this, but I don’t know if it offhand. This utility will allow you to turn off autoplay, you should be able to shut off the auto play programs, and still run the CD part in autoplay, the unfortunate side effect is that your gaming cd’s won’t autoplay, but then the program part of the ‘enhanced’ cds won’t either.
Boo. Fucking. Hoo.
You don’t like it? Don’t buy the CDs. You don’t like the record industry? Don’t support them.
Listen to the radio. Download from mp3.com. Support live music. Buy local artists’ CDs. Buy small press. Jeezus, there’s hundreds of fantastic artists out there who want you to have their music for free. Or for fucks sake just bring a CD player to work.
But your resolve to deliberately hack the CDs just sounds petty, childish, and whiny. “Oh, wahh, they won’t make it easy for people to steal music! They must be out to get me!” Fuck a duck, when the same thing went down with videotapes, I suspect there were children who acted exactly the same way. “Waah, I can’t make copies of the Little Mermaid! Those fuckers, I’ll show them!”
Sheesh.
Dig it: Fair use does not mean they have to cater to you. Being allowed by law to make a copy does not entitle you to. Cope.
andros said…
Yeah, but the tech involved quite possibly stops you from listening to it on your car stereo, according to the MSNBC article that’s linked to the Slashdot one at the top of the thread.
Which is utter bullshit. Aside from the fact that “you bought it, but you do NOT have the right to play it on your CD-ROM” is an absolutely ridiculous argument, the fact that it’s considered an acceptable loss if there some CD players – not hooked up to a PC – that won’t play the disc is stunning.
People who just want to listen to their CD on the way home from the store run the risk of being affected. Why not just start shipping the things with a dongle? Or a freaking codewheel for Christ’s sake? If it was good enough for Starflight I, it’s good enough for Charlie Pride.
Look here, smartass. I paid money for my CD. I own my CD, and I will do whatever I want with it. Try and stop me.
–Tim
Copy protection does violate the fair use policy: nowhere can the music industry dictate what medium individuals may use to make private archives of purchased CDs. More importantly, it prevents people from listening to CDs legitimately on high-end CD players or on their CD roms.
For those who are afraid that they will no longer be able to rip MP3s, the solution is mindlessly simple.
Stick the CD in your regular stereo. Plug an RCA line out right into your computer. Play. Record. Voila.
MR
The music industry has every right to sell CDs that only play on certain machinery. You have every right not to buy that CD.
Hell, if they wanted to they could sell CDs that are set up such that they only play on Bob Hope’s 8-track player on Sundays during months with a G in the name.
If you agree to that, you have the right to play that CD in any machinery you can find that will play it. The record companies are not obligated to make it easy for you.
But, just because they are thwarting your desires does not give you the right to pirate their music. If you can find a way to copy it for personal use, more power. But you don’t get to distribute it yourself.
Tim, honey? Lick my bag, willya? I’m not stopping you from doing a goddamn thing, or trying. Enjoy. But just as record manufacturers are not required to make your favorite music in 8-track or vinyl, they are not required to make it easy for you to copy.
Maeg, you said:
I’m with you. But I don’t think the latter necessarily implies the former. The music industry cannot dictate what medium the individuals may use–but they can dictate compatibility issues. Just because copy protection makes it harder to dupe a CD does not mean we’re not allowed to dupe it–if we can. As you pointed out, there’s nothing stopping people from making copies of CDs in any format (albeit with some loss of quality). Hell, there’s nothing stopping me from burning all my vinyl onto CD. It’s just a pain in the ass. They’re not saying I can’t do it, but at the same time, they don’t have to make it easy on me either. Again, just because we’re allowed to make a copy of an album under certain circumstances does not mean the manufacturer has to make it easy for us to do so.
Look folks, if the new standard means CDs cannot be played in some stereos, don’t buy the CDs. Vote with your wallets, and tell the companies why. But deliberately breaking the law out of spite is just plain childish.
<sarcasm>
Oooh. Oooh. Abuse. My tender, delicate heart can’t take the painful criticism of an enlightened individual such as yourself. Now I must fling myself from a tall building or write bleak poetry involving moonlight and autumn leaves to express my pain.
</sarcasm>
Isn’t that being just a touch elitist? I bet your local artists and free downloads from mp3.com would really mean a lot to Joe Sixpack who buys a new cd only to find out it doesn’t work on his cheap stereo. What’s the solution? Upgrade of course. Simple. What if I don’t want a stereo? My PC has a great sound system. Whoops. SOL because the record companies say so. Doh. I guess it’s back to banging on a drum with a stick for Slortar.
And besides, it’s their prerogative to do so. Why not? I don’t have to buy it.
But.
Mainstream record companies have a stranglehold on the business. The other markets you mention are called “fringe markets” for a reason. Whatever the mainstream media companies say, go. They want 16 bucks for a new cd? Why not? Who’s to say otherwise? You want CSS encryption on DVD’s to be under copyright protection? Why not? The sheep will still buy them.
It’s a matter of slippery slope. If this doesn’t get crushed now, what’s to say that in 10 years, we won’t be forced to buy a modem for our stereos to log on to authentification servers every time we listen to music? Or perhaps they’ll use an encryption system that’s under copyright law for music as well, so only people who buy a license can make a player for music?
The only way to fight back is through group, collective action by hitting them in the pocket book. What’s better than pushing for zero sales figures? Negative, natch. And how do you achieve that? …
Granted, piracy is bad. No, I do not pirate music. No, I’m not a 16 year old Napster whiner. But don’t you think a better solution would be to simply stop charging 16 bucks a CD? I guarantee, piracy would drop significantly if a new album debuted at a more reasonable price, such as 12 or 13 bucks. Christ. Talk about slapping a bandaid on a problem instead of looking for root cause.
Oh hell. I give up. I never liked Charlie Pride anyway.
Elitist? Moi? Never. 
I see what you’re saying, but let me turn it around a little on you:
I agree completely that prices are high (although to be fair, online warehouses like http://www.cdconnection.com have some really good prices). I’m glad you agree that theft is not a viable solution to this. As you say, Charlie Pride is not worth it. Nor, IMNSHO, are any of the current crop of throwaway pop performers.
Full disclosure: I’m a professional musician and semiprofessional actor. This is important to me. I want you to hear my music (as Tom Smith puts it, “keep your bloated profits/I just wanna be known”). I’m disgusted by most of the recording industry. I just think there are other ways of teaching them a lesson than simply frothing about something that they have every right to do.
One word of hope here for the masses that stick together.
“DIVIX”