# CD encryption (tell us your prediction on how it'll turn out and why you think so) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976 "2002-03-19T02:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/1 "2002-03-19T02:48:21Z")
Yes, I know it’s been beaten to death… but it’s on my mind and there’s no thread with the topic right now. So I added the “tell us how you’ll think it’ll turn out”. So… Who here thinks that it’ll fail and the recording co’s will have to switch their stratagy? And who thinks we’ll have to do something like putting a key with our fingerprint imbedded in it along with all of the personal information about us just to play a track? (so what if I’m biased) ---
**Author:** ![bigbird120](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bigbird120](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigbird120)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/2 "2002-03-19T06:15:21Z")
Its not gonna work… period. They can’t encrypt CDs without giving us some way to decode them for the legal use of listening to the freaking CD! If they give us a way to decode them hackers will find a way to reverse engineer it and crack the encryption. you see how that works? It won’t be legal and it won’t be pretty, but the free distribution of music online will continue. If one person is able to rip the file they can then distribute that encryption free file on their favorite file sharing program with anyone who cares to search for it. CD encryption might slow down the pirating of music for a VERY short amount of time, but in the long run the good side will prevail. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/3 "2002-03-19T07:53:49Z")
Prediction: Someone, or a group of someones, in the music industry will form a label that will release nothing but copy-protected CDs. They will sign a number of up-and-comers as well as one or two old, established groups. The new copy-protected discs will be unable to use the “CD” and “compact disc” logos, because they do not conform to industry standards and thus labeling them as “CDs” would violate truth-in-packaging laws. As consumer awareness of this grows, consumer boycotts will spring up, not just against the label but against stores carrying the label’s music. In order to placate consumers, the pressured retailers will rearrange their stock so that all copy-protected music gets its own rack. This will mostly end the boycotts, but the discs still won’t sell. The label, refusing to admit defeat, will limp along for 18 months to 2 years, after which it will fold. By this time, of course, everyone’s listening to DVD-Audio anyway. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/4 "2002-03-19T08:34:11Z")
Once encryption kill careers before they even start, and the CD distribution co’s look at the latest Billboard and notice that not one CD which is known to have some encrypted is even at the bottom of the Hot album chart, the experiment will end just like that. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/5 "2002-03-19T19:03:23Z")
It’s already failed. I have a feeling it’s going to be about as easy to defeat as DVD encryption. And not even by just running a line-in from your speaker output either. I’m pretty sure I read an article recently that a number of cd-burning programs out now can “correct” them easily enough. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/6 "2002-03-19T20:37:17Z")
I hear that non-Windows computer systems (Macs and Linux) can already read the encrypted CDs without any difficulty. Can anyone confirm/deny? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/7 "2002-03-19T21:06:18Z")
Encryption, the way that the big music companies want it, is doomed to fail. Once the general public realize that it is a ploy to try and get you to buy the same thing 2 or 3 different times (for each format you want it in) there will be a backlash. Greedy companies who only want to maximize the bottom line will start singing a different tune when sales start drying up. Also, I’d like to see record companies stop bitching about the royalties that are being ‘stolen’ from artists due to file sharing. It is a hypocritical postition when some of the companies are guilty of systematically underreporting album sales and denying royalties to artists themselves. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cd-encryption-tell-us-your-prediction-on-how-itll-turn-out-and-why-you-think-so/98976/8 "2002-03-20T13:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Prediction: > > Someone, or a group of someones, in the music industry will form a label that will release nothing but copy-protected CDs. They will sign a number of up-and-comers as well as one or two old, established groups. > > The new copy-protected discs will be unable to use the “CD” and “compact disc” logos, because they do not conform to industry standards and thus labeling them as “CDs” would violate truth-in-packaging laws. > > As consumer awareness of this grows, consumer boycotts will spring up, not just against the label but against stores carrying the label’s music. In order to placate consumers, the pressured retailers will rearrange their stock so that all copy-protected music gets its own rack. This will mostly end the boycotts, but the discs still won’t sell. > > The label, refusing to admit defeat, will limp along for 18 months to 2 years, after which it will fold. By this time, of course, everyone’s listening to DVD-Audio anyway. i really doubt it. the majors have a fairly tight hold on the industry, making it unlikely that any important players will enter in to it. the only labels likely to have any influence are indie ones, noted for being significantly more artist-friendly and fan-friendly than the majors, and would understand the commercial suicide involved in this strategy.