[mythtv-users] CD Copy protection?

[Dewey Smolka]

The only real answer is to stop buying, and let the record stores and
production companies know why you've stopped buying.

I actually had a fairly amusing experience not too long ago along
these lines. I was at the mall waiting for my wife to finish looking
for something or other and I wandered into the music shop. It's the
first time I've been in a cookie-cutter mall music shop in probably 10
years. They haven't got any better.

But anyway, I had no intention of buying anything, but wanted to see
what would happen. So I picked up some copy-protected disc (can't
remember which one) and headed over to the counter. The converstion
went something like this:

Me: Hi. Do you have this record in a Compact Disc format?

Salesdrone: That is a Compact Disc.

Me: No it isn't. [showing the disc] There's no CD logo on it, it isn't
red-book compliant.

SD: That is a music CD, it will play in your CD player.

Me: I didn't ask for a music disc, I asked for a Compact Disc. Do you have one?

SD: That is a compact disc.

Me: This is most definitely not a Compact Disc. A Compact Disc has an
emblem on it indicating that it's compliant with the red-book CD Audio
standard. This has no  emblem, so it's not red-book compliant,
therefore it's not a CD. Do you have a CD?

SD: That is a CD. Would you like to buy it?

Me: Let me talk to the manager.

SD: [grumble, grumble, goes to get manager] 

Manager: How can I help you.

Me: Sorry to be a bother, I'm just trying to find out if you have this
record on Compact Disc.

Mngr: That is a compact disc.

Me: As I explained to your colleague, it is not a Compact Disc because
there is no emblem indicating red-book CD Audio compliance. Do you
have it on Compact Disc?

Mngr: Ah. Well this is better than Compact Disc [I nearly lost it when
he said that, but kept my composure and plugged along].

Me: How?

Mngr: You can play it on your computer and keep the tracks as
high-quality Windows media files.

Me: But I can play a Compact Disc on my computer, and I don't run Windows.

Mngr: Look, This is a music disc that will play in any CD player.
Would you like to buy it.

Me: No. I'd like to buy a Compact Disc. Do you have one? 

Mngr: If you look around, I'm sure you'll find a lot of Compact Discs
in the store.

Me: But not this one? 

Mngr: No, I guess not.

Me: Thanks anyway for your time. [leaves]

When we went by the shop a little later, I noticed some of the
employees were looking very closely at CD boxes. I can only hope they
were looking for the logo.

The moral of the story is that I have very little power against the
music companies, and the only power I can excercise is to not purchase
their goods. Along the same lines, I don't download their goods
either. A legal download gives them cash and legitimacy, while an
illicit download gives them ammunition. All I want to give them is the
finger.

Instead, I've been gradually filling my Myth box with music from my
local library. They've got tens of thousands of CDs [though I've never
seen any of these better-than-CDs there], and don't seem to want to
tell me where and how to listen them. My current crop is The Miles
Davis Quintet box set, The The's Dusk, Tom Waits' Alice, and Falling
in Love with Duke Ellington.

If it came down to it, I'd rather live without music than do anything
that would help the current major record labels.

I know this is all horribly off-topic for the Myth list, but I think
it's something that concerns us all because of the systems that we've
built and the capabilities we know our machines have.

Just my $0.02.