Nora Jones new CD -- Copy Protection -- YIKES

Depending on what type of "protection" the cd has..it is crackable. On copy protected discs this outer track is corrupted, which prevents copying, or even playback, by PCs but is ignored (at least in theory) by regular CD players. Covering up the outer track via a magic marker disables the protection, allowing a disc to be played as normal in a PC or Mac.

The technique may sound risky, but I did it to the latest "A Perfect Circle" release with success.

In the end, record companies are killing themselves and it is great. I will NOT buy the Norah cd but will pick it up on vinyl in March. I usually buy both as I did with the latest Radio Head but I refuse this time. My system set-up only consists of my Rega 25 and my iPod for digital use so ripping failure is not an option. More and more people are getting outraged by the actions of greedy record companies and are NOT buying the material which they previously would buy. I love it. Its just sad that some music might get lost in this "war"

I am disinterested in this album, and I agree with your sentiments in general about fair use of what you buy, but I understood that copy protection is on nearly every new cd. Is that not the case?

Here's a way we could circumvent this problem, and send a message to bluenote and their owners. Someone buys a copy and cracks it then burns the AIFF/WAV files on to a CD-R. We pass that around via postal mail, each person burning themselves a copy then passing that along to the next in line. (a Vine, it's called, in music-trading circles... only talking about sharing legit content in this context, not piracy).

Obviously this would only be open to people who have bought the CD and can prove it (need to find a way to do that part of it) and just want a copy for their own backup. Would require a little work to do the first crack/copy/archive but after that a simple enough process.

-Ed

I called Blue Note 4 times today. I'm getting the run around and getting transfered all over the place. So, if I don't receive an answer by tomorrow morning I'm going to file in small claims court. Most people might think I'm going overboard, but it's just the whole idea thats bothering me. I paid for the rights to the music, so I should be able to listen to it on what ever machine I choose to. Hey, if I can get 3 other people to file in court we can seek class action status.

Prpixel, There was an article in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago about copyright issues. The concern is that in fact you don't have full rights to the music; you actually lease the music to be used as they tell you can use it. The article went deeper than this but the point was that copyright law is going too far and is actually stifling creativity and new thinking. Copyrights and patents now last so long that an idea, a song, whatever may not enter the public domain for 100s of years.

Witness the discussion in this thread that exemplifies the problem. Technology has moved forward and we can now store all of our music on hard drives with instant access to hundreds of albums and playlists. However, the record labels are preventing this from occurring on new releases through the use of copy protection. They own the copyright to the music and they can tell you what you can and can't do with that music when you buy the CD.

I'm not sure what you can claim in small claims court. There is no legal guarantee that says you have the right to rip a CD to your computer or to play it in the CD drive of your computer. As I understand it the definition of fair use has changed over time so you may not be able to rely on that. the best we can do is speak up and make ourselves heard. As more and more people use their computer as their media system what can the labels do???