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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: Article on the new breed of copyprotected Audio CDs posted by pburke on June 17, 2005 at 10:10:41:
The article you referenced said:"The music labels have been experimenting with various forms of copy protection since 2001. But early attempts yielded embarrassing results: The CDs didn't play in all stereos or computers.
The labels say such technical glitches are a thing of the past. EMI has distributed more than 127 million copy-protected discs in 48 countries with few customer complaints. "
THIS IS F' BULLSHIT. Here is a letter I have sent to EMI and The Absolute Sound Regarding my experience with their copy-protected discs in Canada. I would like to share it with AudioAsylum, as I suspect many of you many now start to experience similar problems on some of your own high-end CD or DVD players:
Ted Cohen,
Senior VP, Digital Development & Distribution
EMI Music PublishingDear Mr. Cohen,
It was with interest that I read your recent TAS Roundtable discussion in The Absolute Sound (JUNE/JULY 2005), regarding the future of high-resolution digital audio. As this article would suggest you are committed to supporting the audiophile world and as your bio indicates your are involved in supporting EMI’s anti-piracy efforts, I thought I would share my increasing frustration with EMI Copy Controlled discs.
I consider myself an audiophile, albeit with somewhat eclectic musical tastes ranging from alternative/indie rock, rock, alt-country to some classical. A number of my favorite artists record for EMI Records, especially Radiohead. I have recently purchased a state of the art 2-channel audio system, which includes an emmlabs CDSD (CD/SACD transport) and accompanying emmlabs DCC2 (digital analog converter/preamp). The CDSD is equipped with a Philips CD/SACD transport mechanism. Of note, that same issue of TAS named this component among their Super Components List. Yet, the last three EMI discs that I have purchased (in Canada), all of which have “Copy Controlled†protection, cannot play on my emmlabs transport, without producing frequent and annoying static-like crackling and pops (not unlike LP noise). On the other hand, I can play these discs on lesser quality DVD and CD players without the noise, but without the same audio quality as the emmlabs. These ‘corrupted’ discs include Doves-Some Cities, Gorillaz-Demon Days, and Coldplay-X&Y. Given that the emmlabs gear is $18K, perhaps you can appreciate my frustration when I am purchasing this EMI software for legal use to be enjoyed on a state of the art system. While I realize the packaging info states that these discs may have problems playing on certain CD players, I do not find it acceptable that EMI cannot guarantee that it will be playable on a reference CD player.
I have since dealt with EMI Canada and with emmlabs in Calgary, Canada. Not happy with the abrupt response I received from the EMI Canada customer service department, I called back to speak with a representative from Quality Control. This person shared my frustration in not being able to play these discs on my state of the art CD player, and offered help in replacing the corrupted discs with non-protected versions. I previously replaced one of the Canadian discs (Doves) with a UK version, which corrected the problem for that recording. However, the person in QC indicated to me that in the near future EMI will be going to worldwide copy protection, and that there may be no alternatives. Moreover, she suggested that if I am having problems continuously with these protected discs, there was no point in purchasing further releases, as they couldn’t guarantee access to non-protected discs. Clearly, before a company like EMI goes to worldwide adoption of this technology, it is imperative to ensure that the disc can be used with great flexibility in all CD players that meet the Philips/Sony Redbook CD standards. While I greatly appreciate the problem that you and EMI are facing regarding piracy of music, any safeguards that EMI puts in place should not punish your consumers who are using the discs for personal and legal (fair) uses. When I spoke with emmlabs, they were well aware of the problem due to previous complaints. They said to me that these Copy Controlled discs, which do not meet the Redbook Compact Disc standard (hence no Compact Disc logo), are not in compliance with the Philips firmware that is loaded on the transport. They told me that the copy protection is contained on a separate layer of the disc and can be ‘removed’ using various shareware programs obtained from the internet (e.g. CloneCD). He suggested one ‘fix’ was for me to produce a CD copy using these programs to obtain a disc that it is free of the offending copy protection. Sure enough, using the program he recommended, I was able to produce a duplicate of my X&Y, which I can now play on my emmlabs transport without the crackling noises. However, I do not regard this as an acceptable solution, as I feel I have a right to be able to play the original disc without the cost and bother of making these special copies. Plus, I am not sure this solution will work for all future discs.
I also find it ironic, that this so-called copy protection, does not prevent me from putting the CC discs into my PowerBook and using iTunes I can easily rip the discs to put them on my iPod. Moreover, the internet is littered with forums indicating hacks and solutions for helping those with PC’s who cannot rip their Copy Controlled discs. Beyond which, as I indicated, certain CD backup programs can allow an exact bit to bit copy to be made without the offending copy protection. So, I fail to see how these discs will protect EMI from ongoing music piracy. In fact, some may argue that it will only upset the legal consumers and may spawn more illegal file sharing and illegal duplication. In my case, they have interfered with my enjoyment of the discs. I hate to say how much time and effort I have wasted sorting out this problem.
As this technology will supposedly be introduced into the USA, I hope that EMI will start to hear more vocal complaints and perhaps, legal action. I know there are a number of anti-EMI websites promoting boycotting of these discs worldwide. Unfortunately, a number of my favorite artists record on EMI records, and I worry this will be an ongoing problem, unless the technology is improved. I was similarly concerned about your promotion of the DualDisc technology in the Roundtable articles, as these discs, like Copy Controlled discs, are not compliant with Redbook CD standard and may have problems playing reliably in a number of high-end players. I notice a few high-end manufacturers have warned consumers about playing DualDiscs in their machines, as the non-compliant ‘CD’ layer may produce audible audio errors. I look forward to hearing from you with regard to this problem.
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SO, NOW THAT THESE COPY PROTECTED DISCS WILL BE APPEARING IN THE USA, I HOPE MY AMERICAN NEIGHBOURS WILL LET EMI, SONY-BMG KNOW THAT THIS SITUATION IS NOT ACCEPTABLE !!!
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Follow Ups
- OPEN LETTER TO EMI - Thom Y 06/17/0519:19:24 06/17/05 (0)
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