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'Copy-Proof' CDs Cracked with 99-Cent Marker Pen Mon May 20, 1:14 PM ET

By Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Technology buffs have cracked music publishing giant Sony Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology with a decidedly low-tech method: scribbling around the rim of a disk with a felt-tip marker.

Internet newsgroups have been circulating news of the discovery for the past week, and in typical newsgroup style, users have pilloried Sony for deploying "hi-tech" copy protection that can be defeated by paying a visit to a stationery store.

"I wonder what type of copy protection will come next?" one posting on alt.music.prince read. "Maybe they'll ban markers."

Sony did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Major music labels, including Sony and Universal Music, have begun selling the "copy-proof" discs as a means of tackling the rampant spread of music piracy, which they claim is eating into sales.

The new technology aims to prevent consumers from copying, or "burning," music onto recordable CDs or onto their computer hard drives, which can then be shared with other users over file-sharing Internet services such as Kazaa or Morpheus MusicCity.

SONY AGGRESSIVE ANTI-PIRACY PUSH Monday, Reuters obtained an ordinary copy of Celine Dion (news - web sites)'s newest release "A New Day Has Come," which comes embedded with Sony's "Key2Audio" technology.

After an initial attempt to play the disc on a PC resulted in failure, the edge of the shiny side of the disc was blackened out with a felt tip marker. The second attempt with the marked-up CD played and copied to the hard drive without a hitch.

Internet postings claim that tape or even a sticky note can also be used to cover the security track, typically located on the outer rim of the disc. And there are suggestions that copy protection schemes used by other music labels can also be circumvented in a similar way.

Sony's proprietary technology, deployed on many recent releases, works by adding a track to the copy-protected disc that contains bogus data.

Because computer hard drives are programmed to read data files first, the computer will continuously try to play the bogus track first. It never gets to play the music tracks located elsewhere on the compact disc.

The effect is that the copy-protected disc will play on standard CD players but not on computer CD-ROM drives, some portable devices and even some car stereo systems.

Some Apple Macintosh (news - web sites) users have reported that playing the disc in the computer's CD drive causes the computer to crash. The cover of the copy-protected discs contain a warning that the album will not play on Macintoshes or other personal computers.

Apple has since posted a warning on its Web site at: kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-...KC.106882.

Sony Music Europe has taken the most aggressive anti-piracy stance in the business. Since last fall, the label has shipped more than 11 million copy-protected discs in Europe, with the largest proportion going to Germany, a market label executives claim is rife with illegal CD-burning.
- bill 5-23-2002 3:08 am [link] [add a comment]

So I’ve got this cat here. Polly the cat. I’m putting her up while Ruth & Nicholas are in Germany. Seems their other cats don’t tolerate her, but she’s been a model citizen here. We had cats when I was a kid, and I had my own, Kitty, for 17 years. She died four years ago, and I’ve been petless since. It’s good to have a cat around. This one is really sweet, with an even temperament. She does all those cat things: chases a toy; rolls on her back; sits in my lap purring. And sleeps a lot. It’s reassuring to see that cats are the same as ever. I’m not planning on getting one myself just now, (too little time, too little space, too much hair,) but somewhere down the road I see myself with another cat. Not Polly, though. She’s moving to Montana soon. Can’t integrate here, so she’s heading west to the RenHillWalls’. Probably a good deal for her.
My only problem is with her name. Everyone knows Polly is a bird’s name; this must be an embarrassment for a cat. So I’ve taken to calling her Poly, as in “many”. After all, the cat is a many-lived creature. Having been rescued from the street, she’s got to be on her second life, and heading for a third, so she’s a Polycat for sure. The names sound the same, so she’s not confused, and I hope this distinction will be observed in Montana. I’m sure you guys will love her out there.
Did I mention she sheds and claws the furniture?

- alex 5-22-2002 6:58 am [link] [1 ref] [8 comments]

Stephen Jay Gould, the evolutionary theorist at Harvard University whose lectures, research and prolific output of essays helped to reinvigorate the field of paleontology, died today at his home in Manhattan. He was 60 years old. The cause was adenocarcinoma, his wife, Rhonda Roland Schearer, said.
- dave 5-20-2002 11:33 pm [link] [2 refs] [2 comments]

ludology.org: videogame theory
- dave 5-18-2002 9:09 pm [link] [add a comment]

I've been working out by the lake (Ponchartrain). At the corner of Warbler and Warbler, you know, off of Warbler, past Swallow.
- jimlouis 5-17-2002 10:25 pm [link] [1 ref] [add a comment]

I noticed in our park the day before yesterday, the arrival of grazing season for the squirels. Little tips (sometimes bigger tips) of tree branched littering the ground all over the area.
- bill 5-16-2002 6:27 pm [link] [2 comments]

the dove lives!!!, i took the slightly bloddy busted winged birdie outside and it after resting it flew off....:>):>)...i guess it will may not set a record for long life but its not dead yet....:>):>)
- Skinny 5-15-2002 6:45 pm [link] [17 comments]

arthur lee euro tour



- bill 5-15-2002 6:34 pm [link] [add a comment]

you know your a yooper if...




- bill 5-15-2002 6:28 pm [link] [add a comment]

theonlinebookspage
- linda 5-15-2002 5:22 am [link] [add a comment]

who?
- linda 5-15-2002 5:13 am [link] [add a comment]

If the sky clears, you can plan-it.
- alex 5-14-2002 8:39 pm [link] [add a comment]

another installment of "theyve got way too much time on their hands." new york city map reimagined as if the nazis had won world war 2.

meanwhile, texas reimagines its own history in light of its current ethnic make-up.
- dave 5-14-2002 7:54 pm [link] [add a comment]

world rps society
- dave 5-13-2002 10:26 pm [link] [add a comment]

have a cigar



- bill 5-13-2002 6:21 pm [link] [1 ref] [add a comment]

It's raining men




- bill 5-13-2002 6:05 pm [link] [1 comment]

Not a mother.
(Courtesy ABS)
- alex 5-12-2002 6:27 pm [link] [add a comment]

Have you called your Mother yet?
- alex 5-12-2002 6:21 pm [link] [6 comments]

have a listen
- linda 5-10-2002 7:25 pm [link] [5 comments]

Birds on wine labels.
- alex 5-09-2002 5:30 pm [link] [3 comments]

The breadroot scurfpea(Psoralea esculenta), also known as the white apple, prairie turnip, tipsin, pomme de prairie, and pomme blanche. Just seeing if i could actually follow technical instructions and link a site, i'm really blogging now, thanks.
- jeff 5-08-2002 2:58 am [link] [1 ref] [2 comments]

i'm sure someone has alreay posted this yahoo list
- linda 5-07-2002 7:44 pm [link] [add a comment]

First of all, they both love their families. They both partied a little too hard when they were younger. Half the time you can't understand a word either one of them is saying. And neither one of them can make a move without their wife's approval.
- linda 5-07-2002 6:19 pm [link] [1 comment]

This is what happens when Google indexes your page 600 times in two days. Maybe my best search hit yet, and what’s more, the results page for “Gnosticism+light+container+body+darkness+gather” leads to some classic internet nonsense. Like my page, right there between Jung and Mormon Monkeys. And who could argue with Vineyard - New Wineskins Effeminate Worship? Who could understand it? But hey, organized religion only has itself to blame as seekers turn elsewhere.
Which brings me to that predatory priest problem. I actually heard a Catholic apologist use the term “wounded healer”, so you know they’re on the defensive. It’s true though: the Church is pretty much blind to the lessons of shamanism, or at least it’s not willing to admit to any parallels with “primitive religion”. Our priests are supposed to be superheros, not sufferers. Another Cardinal, insisting on the necessity of celibacy, said it was “God’s gift to the Church”, but it seems more like the tax exacted for being a little too close to God. It’s a funny idea for a species reliant on sexual reproduction, but it keeps coming up. Every culture seems to think someone should be celibate. Not you or me, of course, but someone...
Anyway, we can’t let them blame the whole thing on celibacy, or homosexuality as a vector of evil, so I’ve got a modest proposal. Allow the gay priests. Encourage it. Require it. Think of it as a shamanic ritual enforcing the distance between clerical and lay culture. They already comprise a special sexual class, this way is just more honest; the priests admit to their sin, instead of pretending to be above it all. And after vespers they can all get together and, you know, forgive each other. If it’s all out in the open there’ll be fewer problems. People will respect the Church for this sort of genuine reform. And they’ll keep a eye on their children.

- alex 5-07-2002 3:33 am [link] [2 comments]

Aung San Suu Kyi released!
- linda 5-07-2002 1:39 am [link] [1 ref] [add a comment]