Casual copying is one of the most prolific forms of CD piracy - "especially when looking at 'hot' new releases".

So says SunnComm's Peter H. Jacobs - you know, ceo of the, "leader in digital content security and enhancement for optical media" who brought you (and BMG) its revolutionary copy protected Anthony Hamilton CD ...

... that appeared online within hours of its release and which, said Princeton's John Halderman, only needed you to press the shift key when were inserting it to get around its 'copy protection'.

Well, nothing loathe, SunnComm is now testing 'Secure-Burn' - a MediaMax feature record companies are supposed to use to cut down the number of casual copies made from an original CD.

For the ignorant among us, "Casual copying is the term used to describe CD copies that are made of an original CD - then copies are made from those copies, and so on."

Bill Whitmore, Sunncomm president, explains, "When friends make copies of their purchased CDs to give to friends and then those receiving the copies copy them for other friends, it has the potential to propagate thousands of illicit copies from one original CD. When our record company customers permit consumers to burn a controlled number of copies from a particular CD for their personal use utilizing MediaMax technology, we will be able to reduce the number of copies made from copies."

And in case you didn't follow, "When one CD buyer makes 3 copies of a new CD for friends who each make another 3 copies from their copy for additional friends who then make 3 copies for their friends, you can end up with thousands of pirated copies floating around before you know it," says Jacobs. "It's like a chain letter of music piracy and theft."

But, "SunnComm MediaMax is the first anti-piracy solution to target 'casual theft' of copyrighted music originating from audio CDs," he states.

And incredibly, Sunncomm actually flogs its Anthony Hamilton CD as an example of its prowess.

"Today's news comes on the heels of BMG's successful release last month of the music giant's first commercial MediaMax in the United States - Comin' From Where I'm From, by singer-songwriter Anthony Hamilton released on Arista Records," it brags.

And in closing, it says its MediaMax CD-3 is a collection of technologies that provides copy management for CDs and DVDs, "while simultaneously enhancing and expanding the consumer's experience". It's also, "tightly integrated with Microsoft's Windows Media Platform and the Digital Rights Management capabilities associated with the latest Windows Media Platforms" and Sunncomm "licenses and uses Windows Media Audio DRM capabilities from Microsoft Corporation as the security feature for music files which end up residing on the consumer's computer".

Now you know

well, untill you use a cd ripper, that cuts out all that junk like the crc's, the original and the copyright, like most free cd rippers, like the one i have, i could easily rip it to mp3 at like 192mhz and turn around and burn unlimited copies, determaning how long my cruddy cd burner will last before it blows up. :/

and pluss there are tons of "non" microsoft music players, like the almighty winamp, and then dont forget that one jukebox thingy , all i use is winamp.

like i said, theres always a patch around these things, and if all else fails, find a good cd ripper thats not microsoft, rip it and the cd copyprotection should be gone, trust me, i i "test" that and do that all the time.

unfortionanlty i cant make back up copies of my microsoft flight simulator game (, damn you microsoft!

hahaha, they will continue to waste their time and money.

If it were 'copy protection' it would be universal. But all this is required is an OS that not use auto-run and you could look at it as an enhancement (or dehancement) that requires Windows to use. Autorun is a 'feature' introduced in Win 95 that is suppose to save the user the trouble of having to double click the cd-rom icon.
And as stupid as these people are, I'm sure they have more money than any of us.

Hmmmmm. Another ploy. Records to 8-tracks. 8-tracks to cassettes. Cassettes to CD. CD to digital. Each of the first 3, everyone had to buy again what they already bought once. Now, they are trying to make it so you can't make your OWN digital copy. YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY IT FROM THEM AGAIN! What a joke! Anyone that believes copy protection is because of piracy is a fool. They are making sure you once again have to buy what you own, WHAT YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO, from them again! Fair Use is out the window. Basically what the labels are doing is RENTING you music, at the old price you paid to OWN

Remember Copyright expires DRM doesn't....that is all you need to know...To make a decison not to buy...

By George, I think I have the solution to all of their ills considering this statement
"When friends make copies of their purchased CDs to give to friends and then those receiving the copies copy them for other friends, it has the potential to propagate thousands of illicit copies from one original CD."

They just have to charge a kazillion dollars for the very FIRST cd they produce,(their profit) and then we get the rest of them to download for free! pepe

Copyright? ...expire!??? Not if the RIAA and MPAA have anything to do with it...

So a limited number of copies can be made...FROM THE CD.

At the very worst you can interupt the signal as it passes through an amplifier and digitally record that or even onto a fine analog source prior to ripping it. Recording a song onto a quality analog tape will degrade the sound far less than the mp3 compression anyway.

What total dicks, they are so stupid.

ooops...as I said, from the CD. If it's ripped, put on a p2p, them everyone in the world has it. Like what, a zillion or so copies..

An even easier solution would be to get a soundcard with full duplex and record off of the audio signal coming right from the cdrom...

Wasting more money trying to stop casual copying than casual copying is costing them, it seems.

Besides, it's only casual copying of the billboard 50 groups that they care about and we are sick of hearing from push-down-your-throat-play-it-till-its-dead ClearChannel radio stations.

Here's an idea, if the casual copies spread like chain-letters, then attach a chain-letter to the copy stating:

"If you like this cd, send $2.00 (1 to cover royalty and 1 to cover recording cost) to [insert band's paypal or whatever], and send this note along with a copy of the cd to 10 friends."

Now that's what I call a music distribution system that's fair to the artist as well as the recording studio (not to be confused with the label)...

~MaW~

Well you won't have to worry about me "stealing" your "music". You can hold onto your crippled junk (which apparently you need to think harder about) and I'll hold onto my money. Deal?

Less functionality != enhanced

The people that work at Sunncomm should look for new jobs. They aren't doing their's.

CNet says SUNNCOMM is probably going to sue the student who cracked the encryption:
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5089168.html?tag=nefd_top

Not to be mean to anyone, but I hope a few people from here end up on that jury if they go to trial. Since that would reduce the chances of an idiotic jury siding with SunnnnnnCommmmmm .

Thumbtack,

I'm afraid I have you take issue with your comment about copyright expires.
Historically, copyrights (unlike patents) haven't been expiring - they just keep getting extended.

They forgot to consider the consequences of everybody with burners burning thousands of copies of a new cd, renting a leer jets, and dropping a combined 50 million cd's (with lil parachutes) unto the salivating pirates below.

If 3 copies were made per person and the trend continued as 3 copies per person as so on it wouldn't take long before everyone in the world owned a copy of a given CD. The math has been done on such ideals many times in the past. CDs don't get copied like that. Just because something can happen doesn't it IS happening. Thats like saying just becauses a country COULD have WMD's that they should be struck down for what could possibly maby happen. Oh wait. We did that too. We just go around acting on ideals of the worst case. "Sure its OK to act like this. We could be getting screwed over you know."

Just don't buy copy protected junk your just going to throw it in the garbage anyway,what a waste of money geez

We are boycotting right? no RIAA product right? If you are not buying the Cd's then you have nothing to worry about. I for one will not buy a CD from them again or until they come to their senses, which will prob never happen.

more of their money down the drain, ti's all advoidable, i've come across copyright protected cds, i ripped them at the highest cd quality avalible and then burned them back to cds, DRM is too easy to avoid.

Do these people not know that any sound coming through your soundcard can be recorded ? Or that any CD being played on a home stereo can be recorded and then ripped to MP3,Ogg or any other format of your choosing.?

It is a total waste of time and money.I wish I had just 1/10th of the money they waste on silly shit like this.I could live like a KING !!

Oh yeah I used the Shift Key many times just now,hope I didnt break any laws.

you have to worry about selling them before you need to worry about them getting copied lol

Oh yeah I am still BOYCOTTING !!!
and will do so for how ever long it takes !!

This is so stupid!!!!! you know what MISSING????? RESPECT!!!!! If music fan's RESPECT the Band or Artist they buy will the cd!!!! I bought all The Beatles music as a kid WHY???? RESPECT!!! I wanted them to make MONEY and be successful!!!! NOW WE find out that most of the MONEY goes to a major label and the Band or Artist gets screwed!!! LOOK at Chuck D there are some folks who don't like RAP but they will go BUY his CD WHY!!! because he STOOD UP and was counted for on the music FAN'S SIDE at Tech tv and at senate hearings.The problem with cd sales today is the major lables can't create artist's who connect with music fan's like they did in the PAST WHY!!!! Because the major label's have crushed Band's and artist's creative spirit. TOO much Baby Baby Baby musack and no soul searching music on the top 40!!! The major's have controlled the out put and aimed most music content to 12 yr olds. What they need to do is GET REAL !!! Stop inventing the next BIG thing and let it happen for REAL !! LIKE Elvis The Beatles. The Stones .Eagles. Boston. AcDc' Heart. and so on .These folks and many others had staying POWER WHY!!!!! because they connected with MUSIC FAN'S and are STILL doing so TODAY at least that's what I think!!!!!!!!

AND LET"S not forget THE DEAD!!! Grateful they made it Big by giving away alot of their MUSIC and a few drugs!~!##$@#$%%@#$% I'm relapseing again!!!!!!!!!

exactly. you buy a cd and you automatically make 30 copies for all your friends. that's called presumed guilty. the perfect way to treat your consumer base.

consumers will thank the record companies for taking this position - in yet more lost sales.

How exactly can they sue him for 'cracking' their copy protection when there is no copy protection to begin with. Holding down the shift key or disabling auto run is not 'cracking' anything. How stupid.

a different article on msnbc about sunncomm. stated that in the future their copy protection would be downloaded in third party software.we won't know where it's coming when you can't copy.

gramm...exactly!

That's what pisses me off. What gives anyone the right to subversively install software onto another computer.

Why can't WE sue software developers for piggybacking code into programming that we inadvertently install into our systems under false pretense.

For a while now, every time i install programming, i read the user agreements...carefully. It better state in the agreement that third party software will be installed because if i find otherwise, i will contact my attorney and make a hell of a stink about it.

We have to take a stand against this kind of crap.

the riaa's plans will back fire pretty soon, after the law suits are gone, they will probably go on another scheme just like before, but this time we're ready.