Copy-protected CDs...help!

[wdogmedia]

My girlfriend bought the Garden State soundtrack today (on a CD, how archaic...) and complained that it wouldn't play in her 12" Powerbook. I told her we'd take it in to get looked at, but in the meantime I'd burn it for her on my 15".

Surprise, surprise, the disk goes in, it makes its little alien-warbling sounds, and back out it comes. Won't play, won't even stay in the drive. I take a look at the CD and right in front is a big FBI logo.

I've tried three different Powerbooks now and the disk refuses to play....it's not scratched or even scuffed, I'm fairly sure though that it's a copy-protected disk. Is there any software or anything I can use to get these songs onto my computer?

 

[cubist]

I suggest returning it to the store for a refund. If retailers get enough returns of this crap, it'll stop.

Meanwhile, download the stuff from iTMS and burn an audio CD of it from iTunes.

 

[vixapphire]

if my understanding is correct, i recall reading somewhere awhile back that the copy protection can be overcome by taking a sharpie and coloring in the outside few millimeters of the disc surface, since this is where the copy protection is imprinted. if you look at the playing surface in the light, you can see where the data is vis the blank surface. since the t.o.c. is on the inside of the ring and the contents play from inside towards the rim, don't screw around with the data near the center. however, if you see a thin band of data at the outside, that's likely the culprit that instructs the computer not to play the disc. the disc should, however, play on a regular cd player, like a car or discman. have you tried that to ensure you don't own a lemon disc?

 

[wdogmedia]

the disc should, however, play on a regular cd player, like a car or discman. have you tried that to ensure you don't own a lemon disc?

Disk plays perfectly in my car....I don't think I'll be marking up the disk, though, I'll just take it back later today.

 

[rwk001]

Overcoming copy protection

Yes, there are a few websites out there that detail how to do that. The outside ring of data on the disc is essentially junk, and causes a computer CD player (but not a regular CD player) to reject it because of the way it evaluates a disc for data retrieval. You don't need to color in the whole ring, just enough (say a stripe in each quadrant). I would also recommend using something like a wax pencil or just some thin tape rather than a Sharpie so that it can be easily removed. Good luck

 

[betsbillabong]

I think you may also be able to get it in your computer by holding down the shift key - try it out, it's worth a shot.

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/

bb

 

[cmvsm]

Just buy from iTunes and make your own CD's. Why bother with buying retail as you always get crap you don't want to listen to. For the same price or less, you can customize your cd collection. Let the music industry put all this security and FBI warnings on, as it won't matter if no one is buying them. They deserve a little payback anyway as they have been ripping off the consumer for years...

 

[ftaok]

Just a quick question. Is the CD logo evident anywhere on the package? I ask because these copy protected CDs aren't really CDs at all. If they don't have the logo, then they aren't CDs. Yeah, semantics ...

Anyways, you should definately return it. Like the previous post said, if enough of them are returned, then the retailiers will refuse to accept them from the publisher.

 

[dotnina]

Strange – I burned the same CD to my Powerbook just the other day, without any problems at all.

I imported it using iTunes. In addition, my friend was able to play it on his Dell.

I don't know why it wouldn't work for you.