“Trying to gauge the damage caused by Sony-BMG’s rootkit DRM will take years to comprehend. The gaping wound caused by Sony-BMG exists well beyond infected computers, security problems, and a tarnished reputation. The record label’s entire philosophy on P2P networking, Internet piracy and DRM has been effectively destroyed.”
more from Slyck News here – I can’t argue with a word of it.
They’ve missed another parallel – the industries claim that P2P is theft, and it looks as though code contained within the Sony DRM is itself stolen.
Technically challenged bimbo here… if I buy a CD, how can I tell if it has this DRM thingy on it? Does it say on the box?
I doubt it.
I don’t care much about these things for myself, cos they generally fail most spectacularly to work on a Mac.
Don’t think they do say anything, ‘cos that would put people off of course. I’m not sure they’re supposed to still have the CD logo on the box but I could just be mis-remembering some urban myth.
Guess the conclusion is Don’t Buy Sony (unless you’re going to rip it on a Mac before burning back to ordinary CD.) 🙂
If you’ve bought it and you stick in a PC, it will ask to install its own player to play it via Windows.
If you haven’t, it will a) not have the ‘CD Compact Audio’ logo on the packaging (Philips get upset otherwise) and b) will mention XCP, possibly as part of a web address.
OK, thanks 🙂
there is a list of the Sony CDs that they admit to (that’s ultra cynicism, there is no reason to really suspect it’s on others) that I linked to yesterday http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html; it says the CDs have a content protection grid on the back of the CD packaging.
Handy, thanks 🙂
One almost wonders if it’s a deliberate ploy by Sony hardware (who continue to make all sorts of nifty and potentially copyright busting toys) to completely scupper the whole DRM thing, thus clearing the way for them to make and sell even niftier and copyright bustingier toys.