Ok, ok...I know this isn't I normally post on, but I was pretty annoyed and thought I should mention it. I recently purchased the new Santana CD, "All That I Am". I've been a fan of him for a long time, and I like the new stuff he's been doing the last few years. Anyway, the new CD gets home, is opened, and Poof! The CD loads the copy protection at the instant the CD is read, as most of the copy-protected CDs do. I figured wasn't any real big deal, seeing as I am the owner of the CD and this is my machine. Well, the copy protection, upon research, installs drivers on your machine, and then uses techniques similar to those employed by viruses to hide the drivers. It will allow you to make 3 copies of the CD, but you can't play them on just any player. It won't play on portables (or so the CD says). Some analysts warn that some of the changes made by the drivers/software on the CD *may* make your machine more vulnerable to viruses in the future. Great. I'll be doing some research into this over the next few weeks.... Don't get me wrong: I've no problem with a company protecting it's intellectual property. I really don't. However, the issue is that I use an MP3 player at work. It will not let me copy the tracks to my player! It won't even work with iPod, the most popular MP3 player on the planet (not my favourite, but more on that some other time). What is also at issue is that I have purchase the right to use the music; my "fair use" is violated by this most recent copy protection scheme. BTW, this is not MediaMax 3 like was is use on the Velvet Revolver CD. That one could be defeated, not that I did it of course. No, this one is new. MediaMax 5, I think it is. I will not buy any CD with copy protection on it again, if it can be helped. Period.
Here's some detail on the issue: http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
Apparently, Sony is now offering information on how to remove the software, but only on a per-request basis. The request must also be made from the machine in question, which suggests to me more activity that they aren't telling you about. I am just about fed up with this whole process. I'll post the link on how to remove the software shortly.
posted @ Saturday, November 05, 2005 8:17 PM