Skip to main content

Copy Protection & CDs

Not having receiving a new CD for quite some time, I was quite surprised to find that my new copy of Let It Be...Naked featured a copy protection scheme that effectively prevented me from including it in my CD collection.
 
Many of you will likely think I've been living under a rock - I haven't - I just haven't needed to buy a new CD. I knew they were doing some things for copy protection but EMI has really taken it to the level where it's unbelievable.
 
To play the CD on your computer, you need to install "their" program OR you effectively need to ruin the CD. Yes, supposedly this can be done by using a marker and going around the outside of the CD with it. That kind of scares me because after actually paying money for a CD, the last thing I want to do is possibly ruin it.
 
This isn't about circumventing licenses either. This is simply about wanting to listen to the music where I want. I have an AudioTron device (http://www.turtlebeach.com) that plays music on my stereo from all sources. I need to move the music there to run.
 
What this effectively does is tell me that these companies do not want my business. I would far rather purchase the music online for $0.99 a song instead of buying a CD. Thankfully that is precisely what some companies are doing.
 
So now, instead of being able to enjoy my music, I have to burn another copy of the data CD and then play around with the black pen. Unbelievable...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas

Whether you celebrate now, have already celebrated your past holiday, are planning to, or not, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and those you love during this holiday season and are able to remember fondly those who are not with you. We often find ourselves buried in work, or too distracted by other problems, to share and remember a few moments with those closest to us. So many of us are separated by huge distances, we often find it easier to focus on those who are out of arm's reach yet so easy to connect with online, instead of those who are right beside us. So do yourself a favour, put down the keyboard (stylus, mouse, etc) and spend that time. I know I will. Merry Christmas. Powered by ScribeFire .
4 comments
Read more

Programmers vs. Developers vs. Architects

I received an email this morning from Brandon Savage 's newsletter. Brandon's a PHP guru (works at Mozilla) but his newsletter and books have some great overall perspectives for developers of all languages. However, this last one (What's the difference between developers and architects?) kind of rubs me the wrong way. Either that, or I've just missed the natural inflation of job descriptions. (maybe, it's like the change in terminology between Garbage man and Waste Engineer or Secretary and Office Administrator) So maybe it's just me - but I think there's still a big difference between Programmer, Developer and then of course, architect. The key thing here is that every role has a different perspective and every one of those perspectives has value. The original MSF create roles like Product Manager, Program Manager, Developer, Tester, etc - so every concept may pigeon hole people into different roles. But the statements Brandon makes are often distinction...
11 comments
Read more

From Writing to AI: the pattern repeats itself

When I was ten years old, my dad bought a computer and, thanks to an advertising supplement in a Superman comic I read, it was a TRS-80. A month later, he dragged the entire family (my mom and brother were not the most enthusiastic) to a class at Radio Shack teaching how to use microcomputers. At the time, I understood why my mom wasn’t that excited: the computer was yet another gadget in the house. But today I find it fascinating. My mother went to Vassar in the 50s. She learned how to type — not a common skill at the time — but it opened doors. Her ability to communicate effectively led her to a career in adult education and later communications work with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). This isn’t a nostalgia post. Today, the ability to use artificial intelligence, be it through Copilot or simply writing the right prompt, is becoming a critical skill. But is it really that novel? In the 1500s and 1600s, the printing press gradually made reading accessible beyond cler...
Post a Comment
Read more