Posted on 5/31/2002


"Consumers should be aware that attempting to circumvent copy control by writing or attaching anything to the disc can result in permanent damage to the disc, and possible damage to the playback device," Sony DADC said in a statement last week.

All five major recording labels are in trials with various copy protection schemes, mostly in the European market.

But a felt-tip marker easily broke the protection on a CD of Dion's "A New Day Has Come" bought in Berlin. An ink line drawn across the copy-protection data portion of the CD allowed the disc to be copied digitally. The original CD, however, no longer worked in a standard CD player.

Some CD customers also reported breaking the protection by attaching a small piece of paper to the protected data portion.

Sony Music Entertainment labels have yet to unleash copy-protected CDs in the U.S. market. To sate U.S. consumer's appetite for digital-format music, Sony plans to release music CDs containing a second digital format. A computer will be able to read the so-called second session on the disc, but won't be able to copy the music on the hard drive or share it over the Internet."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/419302p-3341929c.html