Update:
The global music giant Sony BMG has announced that it plans to recall millions of CDs by at least 20 artists, from the pop-music stars Céline Dion and Neil Diamond to the country-rock act Van Zant, because they contain copy-restriction software that poses risks to consumers’ computers.
The move, announced on Tuesday, is expected to cost the company tens of millions of dollars. The company said it would remove all unsold CDs containing the software from retail outlets and offer exchanges to consumers who had bought any of the CDs involved. A toll-free number and e-mail message inquiry system will also be set up on the Sony BMG Web site, sonybmg.com.
Gee, do you think the lawsuits will go away, now?
This is great. Now all I need is to have the President of Sony BMG’s global digital business division, Thomas Hesse fired, and I can consider becoming a Sony customer again.
(He was the one who said, “Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?” )
Barn Door: Closed. Horses: Gone.
Well you wrote:
“Gee, do you think the lawsuits will go away, now?”
Actually that’s not funny. It’s good that Sony’s offering to replace the CDs, but people’s computers have been compromised, and the DRM software may have broken the law (in some states or countries) in the process.
In order to make the suits go away, I think Sony would at least have to volunteer to do “community service” in which they fix all the machines at their expense.
Also, this story is not exactly over. What about the other recording comanies that are using this, or similar DRM technology? This is no time to take the heat off them.
– The Precision Blogger
http://precision-blogging.blogspot.com
Cheer up Sony, 20 years from now, the CDs will become collector’s items – as object lessons on how the old man, for want of a castle, burned his house.
Cool. I’m glad I steal music and don’t buy CDs.
It appears that Sony can’t do ANYTHING right. Even the uninstaller compromises machines! Check out http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/ for more information.
Wayne Bradney, I realize your post was a sorry attempt at humor. But DRM has NOTHING to do with stopping piracy! People who don’t want to pay can easily download all the music they want. I remember hearing about Velvet Revolver’s CD being infested with DRM. So I checked and TWO WEEKS before it was even released it was available for download from multiple sources.
So, DRM is not about stopping piracy. It’s about control. It’s about leading us to a business model where we pay for every use or for eternity via a subscription.
I don’t think Wayne was joking … I steal all of my music too … except for the stuff I really like which I buy and rip.
This seems to be turning into a “What did they know, and when did they know it?” problem.
“Neither representatives of Sony BMG nor the British company First 4 Internet, which developed the copy-protection software, would comment further.”
The “F4I” people developed the rootkit, and sold it to Sony. I would love to see transcripts of the meetings to see if the weenies who green-lighted this actually comprehended what the issues were.
Robert’s quote of Thomas Hesse , in comment #1, does make it appear that F4I gave Sony execs some clue as to how the system worked. Or, is this just an ignorant Hesse trying to do damage-control (and failing, spectacularly!)
What’s Neil Diamond doing in that album cover?
Oh, and DRM sucks!
Ima,
This is one of the (relatively) few times I agree with you. DRM isn’t about pirating music. It is completely about eroding consumers’ rights to use the products they purchased.
Any company that says they are using DRM to stem piracy is giving lip-service to the public. What they really want is for the consumer to purchase a separate copy for every media they listen to. If I listen on my CD player, I will have to buy a CD. If I listen on my MP3 player, I’ll have to purchase a DRM-enabled digital copy. If I listen on my yet-to-be-invented personal-in-ear digital music system, they want me to purchase a license for that too.
Why? Because when Congress changed the copyright laws extending copyrights out to their current 95 years, corporations saw this as potential cash-cows to be milked for every penny. (BTW, Congress changed the laws to match the EU copyright limits. Interesting how any more the EU seems to determine laws in the US.)
What can we, as consumers, do about it? Well, stealing music is one option, but, personally, I don’t think that’s a viable option. Most consumer advocacy groups are trying to get the laws changed. They have my support.
Gary
Ima, if that is indeed your real name [twirls moustache],
Actually I was joking, I own more CDs than I care to count.
The point is that DRM _is_ about stopping _casual_ piracy, but all it really serves to do is criminalize more and more people every day, and does nothing to actually stop piracy itself. Kind of how the Alternative Minimum Tax catches more and more middle income groups every day, without actually stopping the people it’s intended for (the super-rich, like John) from avoiding taxes altogether.
So, although I do buy CDs (because I can rip them at any compression rate to my iPod), I don’t buy from iTunes Music Store (because the files are not CD quality, I can’t play them freely on any device, and I can’t download them again for free if my hard drive crashes, even though the RIAA just got through telling me that I didn’t buy the album itself, only a licence to listen to the album).
Bottom line is that the **AA needs to get their heads out of they’re @sses before they become irrelevant (or even more so than they already are).
Ima, you hit it right on the head. Bravo!
On a similar note, I bought the Moby “Hotel” cd on the V2records label. It uses some sort of copy protection that prevents me from playing it on my computer. Plays fine in the car, but on the computer it launches my web browser and goes to Moby’s website. There is NO indication on the cd packaging about this restriction. It is the last cd I will buy from V2records.
“So, DRM is not about stopping piracy. It’s about control. It’s about leading us to a business model where we pay for every use or for eternity via a subscription.”
You can blame M$ and other software companies for this business model. Insisting that you pay for every installation of their software. Then they re-enforced it with product activation so you really only could use it once, . Now entertainment is looking to do the same thing,
THis is not the first time Sony has tried a high-handed scheme for DRM.
I don’t steal and I don’t appreciate being accused, tried, convicted, sentenced and punished just because I am stupid enough to buy a Sony product.
Open response to Sony:
Okay, I get you. Now you get me. I used to be an admirer of Sony technology. I have been since the betamax days. I used to spen a good amount of money on sony products. NOW, I WILL NEVER KNOWINGLY SPEND MONEY ON A SONY PRODUCT EVER AGAIN!!!
Evertybody, calm down….
What SONY did was stupid, but they had reason for doing it. If you dont try to protect your property, who knows what the legal system will say.
* Yes we are ALL not criminals, yet we deal with the hassles created by criminals every day. Security guards and cameras in stores, going through metal detectors at airports, using a PIN number with our ATM cards….
Geez: IF EVERYBODY WAS HONEST the world would be an easy place to live. BUT LOTS OF PEOPLE ARENT HONEST.
I have no problem with Sony doing what they are doing, AS LONG AS THEY TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE DOING. If someone says I will have to agree to a strip search to go somewhere, its MY decision. If the strip search will get me into the Playboy Mansion, Ill drop my draws. Otherwise, who knows….
Grow up people. You all have locks on your front doors. Sonys lock may have been defective, but it IS THERE RIGHT.
I think Mr. Fish is an alter-ego of Dvorak. His name even admits it [I’m a Phish] and had also been seing his posts wherever Dvorak goes. Hmmm… [also twirling my moustache].
In its FAQ on rhe XCP content protection technology, Sony mentions “Unfortunately, in order to directly and smoothly rip content into iTunes it requires the assistance of Apple. To date, Apple has not been willing to cooperate with our protection vendors to make ripping to iTunes and to the iPod a simple experience.”
They have the guts to comment on how difficult it is to rip content from to iTunes and iPod!
I don’t buy from iTunes Music Store (because the files are not CD quality, I can’t play them freely on any device, and I can’t download them again for free if my hard drive crashes…
Why can’t you play them freely on any device, Wayne?
I agree that they are not CD-quality to begin with, but you can burn them to CD as aiff files, and re-rip them as lossless – or to a higher bitrate – to minimize the quality-loss of a 2nd conversion.
That is also how they expect you to backup your purchases, in case your hard-drive crashes.
I have only made limited iTunes purchases because of the sound-quality issue, but I do not see backup of purchases or ability to move the songs to CD or other players as a problem.