p2pnet - rss feed: MediaMax protected CD online
p2pnet.net News:- BMG’s Velvet Revolver’s Contraband is protected against unauthorized duplication.
Or, as ZDNet puts it here, “For the first time, the No. 1 album in the United States is loaded with anticopying protections, marking a clear step into the mainstream for the controversial technology.”
Loaded with anticopying protections?
We checked three p2p networks and although Sunncomm’s MediaMax is supposed to stop people from copying it, Contraband is very defiitely online. In spades.
And although it may be the first time a DRM’d CD hit as Number One, it’s far from being the first time BMG has launched a recording claiming it to be safeguarded by Sunncomm technology, only to find it wasn’t.
As we wrote here, close to a year ago SunnComm said it had successfully completed the “external testing phase” of MediaMax copy protection technology and none of the ripper programs used, “was able to produce a usable unauthorized copy of the protected CD, yielding a verifiable and commendable level of security for the SunnComm product”.
So Anthony Hamilton’s $14 BMG CD Comin’ From Where I’m From went out under MediaMax protection.
However, it started showing up on p2p networks immediately after its release, encouraging Princeton University’s John Halderman to take a look. He found the Sunncomm technology could be by-passed if people simply held down the shift key while inserting the CD and therefore came to the conclusion, “MediaMax’s protections are ineffective because the driver program can easily be disabled or, depending on the system configuration, it might never be installed to begin with.”
The “Workaround”
Velvet Revolver’s Contraband was the largest test yet for BMG: “The test uses MediaMax copy protection from BMG partner SunnComm International,” according to ZDNet.
“We’re thrilled with the results we’ve seen and the apparent consumer acceptance [of Contraband],” it has Jordan Katz, an executive vp in BMG’s distribution arm, saying, going on: “The company has released a total of 12 ‘copy managed’ discs, with more than 2.5 million units now in the market, he said.
“Like other recent copy-protected albums, the Velvet Revolver disc includes technology that blocks direct copying or ripping of the CD tracks to MP3 format. It also comes preloaded with songs in Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, which can be transferred to a computer or to many portable digital music players.”
However, “As in earlier tests by BMG and SunnComm, the copy protection on the Velvet Revolver disc can be simply disabled by pushing the ‘Shift’ key on a computer while the CD is loading, which blocks the SunnComm software from being installed,” says Zdnet.
“The companies say they have long been aware of the work-around but that they were not trying to create an unhackable protection.”
Yes, they’ve known about it for some time. In fact, Sunncomm was on the verge of attempting to sue Halderman, but at the last minute, wisely decided against it.
So, how is Sunncomm able to continue marketing MediaMax when in real life, it’s MediaMinimum?
“SunnComm International Inc. today announced that its exclusive marketing arm, QuietTiger Inc. has signed an agreement with EMI Music, in which EMI will test the SunnComm MediaMax M4(TM) content management technology for select promotional products on a worldwide basis.” says Sunncomm in a press release here.
Was it WC Fields who said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”?
June 20th, 2004 at 4:20 am
It was PT Barnum, actually.
June 20th, 2004 at 3:41 pm
Hi: I think you are referring to P.T. Barnum, when you ask who first used the sound byte of ‘There’s a sucker born every minute’. As to copy protection, whatever happened to the rights of the consumer to make an archival copy? Or do they sell you two copies in the same box so you don’t have to make a copy? With the low cost of CD media, and the ease with which they can produce UNLIMITED copies, the record companies are once again out to rip off the consumer while filling their pockets, all at the expense of the very people they are supposed to be keeping happy.
June 28th, 2004 at 4:20 am
Having some interest in SunnComm, the company that provides MediaMax, I checked out the files available on the P2P networks.
The files I was able to listen too were all junk. None of them were good files. Whether that has to do with MediaMax or the record company flooding the P2P’s with fake files I don’t know.
June 29th, 2004 at 12:26 pm
WC Fields said “Never give a sucker an even break”.
but PT Barnum did not say “There’s a sucker born every minute”, it was David Hannum. Don’t belive it? Read here:
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html
http://greatcontroversy.org/documents/sermons/sermons-kir/kir-gulfpt1.php3
http://freaks.monstrous.com/barnum_stories.htm
http://ink.news.com.au/classmate/takchall/Hoaxes/hoax_challmain.html
June 29th, 2004 at 12:27 pm
WC Fields said “Never give a sucker an even break”.
but PT Barnum did not say “There’s a sucker born every minute”, it was David Hannum. Don’t belive it? Read here:
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html
http://greatcontroversy.org/documents/sermons/sermons-kir/kir-gulfpt1.php3
http://freaks.monstrous.com/barnum_stories.htm
http://ink.news.com.au/classmate/takchall/Hoaxes/hoax_challmain.html
June 29th, 2004 at 12:42 pm
Everyone can beat DRM, and you don’t even need to be a hacker.
If you have a personal CD player, and a line-feed cable (with the small jack plugs), then you can rip the CD analogally.
Just connect one end of the line-feed to the headphone-out socket on your CD player and connect the other end to the line-in socket on your sound card.
Play the CD, while recording using sound editing program. After each track is recorded, normalise the track volume, and then that’s basically it!
Granted, the pain-in-the-ass factor is much higher, and can be prone to error (CD skipping etc), but mostly it works just fine.
Nuts to DRM, Analog ownz! :p
July 15th, 2004 at 3:07 am
Iain Elder is right. As long as are ears are analog DRM is pointless.