http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony_anticustomer_te.html

Good timeline of all the stories on this.  I read boing boing a lot, so I guess I read about this longer ago than I thought.  I think when I saw the CDs were all crap that I wouldn't buy, I didn't pay as much attention.  Then you notice Sony's reaction when people found out, and it really begins to get your blood to boil.  Then you notice it's not the first time, and that they're even working on more of this crap for their games and you realize they just don't "get it".  They won't stop doing this to their products, and they even lie about when caught.

^ Cool, but do you ever do it tape to tape? That's really retro, LOL - but it's one of those things I probably won't ever fully let go of (I grew up with cassettes in general).



I'd do that, if I ... hey, that's a good idea!

I have this sound on sound tape my dad made, I wanna copy it... I guess I'll do that.

Glad to see that they're taking some heat over this. I'll add a link to the boycott site to my own site.

I'd do it the old-fashioned way and just make a mix tape of all the good songs (I still regularly do this - I'm probably one of the few people on Earth though, LOL!). ;)


I too make mix tapes all the time for my car.  In some ways, I kind of prefer tapes over CD's

In the early days of Copy Controlled CD's, there was a noticible circular line on the CD -- All you had to do was put scotch tape over it, and you could bypass the copy control technology, but I notice that line no longer appears on them.

I try to avoid CD's with the CC logo on it, but lately it's almost like every CD has them  :(

I remember one CD I bought didn't even have copy control techonology -- Instead was a disclaimer on the back that said "This CD will not work in any computer of any form and is also not compatible with most Car CD players -- It also does not work in DVD players or VCD and SVCD players and may not work on some home CD players" -- I mean that's just ridiculous -- I pay some $30 plus for a CD that doesn't even work >:(

Wow, this is scary. And such a backfire for the music industry on a whole. Not only is Sony hurting it's customers, but it's hurting their artists because people will not want to buy these infected CDs, which in turn will hurt potential sales of an otherwise top selling album.

Sony BMG suspends copy-protection software
>By Paul Taylor in New York
>Published: November 11 2005 20:31 | Last updated: November 11 2005 20:31
>>
Sony BMG, the joint venture record label, was on Friday forced into an embarrassing climbdown over its use of copy-protection technology on music CDs that exposed some PC users to hackers.

The company said it would “temporarily suspend” use of the controversial software and apologised to PC users for “possible inconvenience” it may have caused.

The turnaround came after several PC security firms identified a “Trojan“ e-mail virus designed to exploit software that some of Sony BMG's music CDs install on their owners' computers when played.

The copy protection software dubbed “XCP“ developed by UK-based First4Internet, limits the number of copies that can be made from the original CD. It is designed to deter “casual piracy“ - typically, friends copying each other's music CDs.

Sony BMG, whose recording stars include Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child, is believed to have installed XCP on millions of CDs since it began using the software earlier this year.

On Friday, Sony BMG, which faces a number of lawsuits in the US related to the use of the software, acknowledged for the first time that it could render PC users vulnerable to attack.

“We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers with XCP content protection software,” the company said, adding that the software has been included on a limited number of Sony BMG titles, but emphasising, “This potential problem has no effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based, CD and DVD players.”

In response to the virus attacks, the company said it had provided a software “patch“ to all major anti-virus companies and to the general public. The patch protects PC users against the virus, identified by Kaspersky, the Russian PC security firm and by UK-based Sophos.

“We deeply regret any possible inconvenience this may cause,” Sony BMG said, adding that it stood by its content-protection technology as “an important tool to protect our intellectual property rights and those of our artists“. The company said: “Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, Sony BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use.”

Sony BMG has still not identified which of its music CDs contain the software. Earlier this week, however, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US-based consumer advocacy group, identified at least 19 Sony BMG music CDs that the group claims install the software when played on a PC.

Critics, including the EFF, claim the software also slows down PCs and makes them more susceptible to crashes and third-party attacks. “Since the program is designed to hide itself, users may have trouble diagnosing the problem,” the EFF said.

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Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/018223e4-52f0-11d...acl=,s01=1.html

Read about it last week. All I have to say is, they are only hurting themselves (and artists) as things like this will lead to more people turning to "illegal" filesharing.

Would that also include CDs and cassette tapes that have the Sony label?  ???

Oh, they want to protect their artists now, do they?  I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with their vast greediness.