Sony's new Label Gate CD protection system

[vitualis]

The original article is here: http://www.idg.net/ic_965667_1794_9-10000.html

If this trend continues, audio CDs as we know it will cease to exist...

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Sony adds download function to music CDs

Kuriko Miyake, IDG News Service\Tokyo Bureau
November 20, 2002, 01:50

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. (SME) will add a new function to music CDs early next year that allows users to store purchased CDs on PCs, while still preventing illegal music-copying, the company announced Wednesday.

SME's new Label Gate CD consists of two kinds of music data -- one is data for audio devices to replay and the other is encoded compressed data for PCs to replay.

Users need to connect to the Internet to decode the music data copied to their PCs from the disc. Using a product identifier (PID), which is similar to a serial number, the CD is authenticated and an electronic key to decode the data is sent across the Internet to users, said Yasushi Ide, a SME spokesman.

Once the music data is decoded, it can be replayed through SME's Magiqlip software, a music player for Windows PCs. Using Magiqlip, the music data can also be copied for backup purposes along with the key, which must be uploaded for verification to SME when the music backup is restored, SME said.

Copied music on a hard disk drive can be transferred to audio devices that comply with SME's OpenMG digital rights management (DRM) technology for a number of times set by the music company. [See "Sony develops new copyright protection technology," Aug. 7.]

The first download of the electronic key that goes with a CD is free. SME plans to charge about A5200 (US$1.64) per song for the second time onwards, Ide said. Users cannot opt to just decode one song from a CD, but have to purchase the key for the entire CD, he said.

The conventional music data on the CD used by audio devices is protected by SME's current anticopying technology that prevents the data from being replayed on a PC. Therefore, the new discs will not carry the CD logo, said Kiyono Yasunaga, an SME spokeswoman.

All 12-centimeter CD singles by Japanese artists rolling out from SME's group record companies are expected to be Label Gate CDs from Jan. 22. With between 2 and 4 songs per disc, this puts the price of copying the music to a second PC at between A5400 and A5800, which is cheaper than the typical A51,000 charged for a CD single in Japan.

Several other record companies are interested in the Label Gate CD technology, Ide said.

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Regards.

[johneboy]

If this trend continues, audio CDs as we know it will cease to exist...

i give it about 1 week.. 1 week and people will have found a way around it.
they always do.

[vitualis]

I agree.

However, I don't think that I SHOULD have to find a way around it...

Regards.

[Greg12]

Lemme see someone say this is a good idea and i'll flip out.

To anyone who is happy with this:

To add the copyable tracks, they have to reduce the number of songs on the CD.

[I have a cunning plan...]

If the 1st licence key is free couldn't you use an app like virtual audio cable that creates a 'fake' audio device and route it to the input of a recording app..??? (it stays all digital this way as far as i'm aware)

[johneboy]

money drives people to come up with copyright protection schemes
determination drives people to defeat it.

we all know who wins that one

[BJ_M]

just another way of pissing off the customeer .. see rolling stones advertisment

http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/102902/index.asp#story4

[WeedVender]

Yup, I agree with Evil Face

Eventually there will be ways to get through the copyright protection.
But thats stupid, with that compressed data there will be less songs or songs with worse quality (Vinyl sounds better than current audio Cds).

[MOVIEGEEK]

There's no way they(RIAA)can stop you from recording analog through your line-in.

[JHebert]

Sounds like the PC player component is Windows only. What about Linux and Mac users? Will the normal CD Audio part of the disc play on these systems or are they totally shut out? Ironic how Sony competes with MS on game consoles but is in effect supporting the Windows monopoly in this case.

[alenhard]

let's all admit it- we need this. after all, we were bored a long time ago with copying cds, and the excitement of ripping dvds is even slowly disappearing. once we figured it out, where did all the fun go? i say let 'em bring it on and we'll have something new to figure out! relax everyone

[El_Seed]

Why do companies always assume that everyone has internet access? How does a person play the CD on their computer if they dont have inernet access?

[crahak]

Less tracks, more hassle, need internet connection, plugin/media player hassle, pay again if something goes wrong.... That sounds so fun. Just like moviegeek said, people will capture it analog anyways, which is still better than the quality of the mp3's they end up ecoding them at... Eh. Most likely, you can do it thru spdif too...

[Trenton_Net]

There is already a way around it. Most soundcards have digital "Record what you hear" features, which allow any digitial stream being played by the soundcard to be directed right back as a wave.

So as the music is decoded and sent to your soundcard, the card digitaly writes it back to a file instead. You get a digital copy in mp3 form, and no stupid serial/reg hassle.

[xed]

Moviegeek remarked that there is no way they can keep you from recording through your analog line in.
Actually, there is -- and that will be the next insane step in this lunatic death spiral by the recording industry. Anybody remember that dead-on-arrival proposed copy protection method that used a sharp notch filter to puncha hole int he audio spectrum up around the high B-flat on a piano?
If memory serves, that cockamamey scheme was proposed back around 1987 or so, and it died a quick death at the hands of audio experts who testified that notch-filtering the music to add copy protection on analog inputs would seriously degrade the quality of the recorded audio on a CD.
Well, here's my prediction...look for new even crazier notch-filter-type schemes designed to prevent users from recording via analog input ports on their computers.
All computers will be required to employ copy protection on the analog audio inputs of the sounds cards (or built-in audio on the motherbaord). At the same time, these notch filter schemes will destroy the sound quality of hte recorded music.
And, naturally, the copy protection added to the CDs to prevent 'em from being digitally copied also keeps the newer audio CDs from playing on much older audio equipemnt, as well as on computer CD-ROM drives.
Yes indeedy! It's the ultimate central circle of Dante's hell!
[1] You buy an audio CD, but it won't play on half your CD players, or on your computer and [2] the RIAA will insert notch filtering to make sure the audio sounds like crap even if DOES play; and [3] you'll wind up paying twice as much for half the amount of music, since half the CD will be taken up with this compressed copy-protected junk.
Now, here's my modest suggestion to the RIAA..
Gentlemen, you're making do with half-measures.
You need to get HARD CORE with these pirates. You must ake the gloves off. Get serious!
The O*N*L*Y way to be _absolutely certain_ that the audio CDs you seel _cannot_ be pirated, either by digital ripping OR by caopying the audio into the analog ins of a DAT machine or a PC sound card, is to use the same technique for copy-protecting the analog audio as is currently used for copy-protecting the digital data.
To wit, add random data.
Yes, geneltmen, that means you must add massive amounts of white noise to the audio signal as well as to the data blocks on which the audio CD is recorded.
This is the final solution to CD piracy. once the music is completely swamped with white noise, NO ONE will be able to copy the music!
See?
Total piracy protection.
Of course, there will remain no audible music left after it has been completely swamped by white noise...but, hey! That's a small price to pay for complete safety from music piracy, ain't it?
Why, just imagine how CD sales will skyrocket when this final copy rpotection measures is instituted. Buyers will grab that latest hot new Cd, slap it in the CD player, and...
...Out will come a blast of pure white noise!
Magnificent.
I look forward to thsi new economic breakthrough by the RIAA with bated breath.

[johneboy]

no matter what they do, CDs as we know it will never be 100% pirate proof.. nothing is. Though i would guess as DVD has replaced VHS, DVD-Audio will replace current regualar audio CDs. They will probably do the same thing with these Audio DVDs as they do now with Video DVDs, encoding the video with encryption. And as everyone here who rips DVDs knows, that too, will be beaten.

[SquirrelDip]

The RIAA's complaint is that they're losing money - and they are blaming the P2P networks. Here's my 2 cents worth:

Most of the music is sold to kids.
People only have a limited amount of cash to spend (especially the kids).
The gaming industry is at an all time high (PS2, XBox, GameCube and all the hand helds).
The movie industry is bigger and better now than ever before - DVD, special effects etc.
There is no where near the quality in music as there was a few years back (or am I just getting old...).

P2P isn't their biggest problem - it's just the easiest one to blame...

[vitualis]

xed's rant aside, there is no way of adding an analogue audio copy protection system that will WORK WITH EXISTING DEVICES (and not have severe audio quality issues). Ultimately, the analogue audio must come out as some sort of line out for it to work with SPEAKERS.

There are ways of implementing analogue audio protection of couse, in a similar way as analogue video protection (e.g., Macrovision). This will require additional circuitry (e.g., Macrovision wouldn't work if you VHS player didn't have AGC circuitry) in all line in capable devices though and fortunately, this doesn't appear to be happening any time soon. In any case, it wouldn't work with exisiting devices (in the same way Macrovision doesn't work with older VHS recorders).

@ SquirrelDip: the music industry is far from losing money. Indeed, their earnings have been pretty much stable (indeed, increasing) before and after MP3 and CD-R. They are using completely spurious calculations in their claim that music "piracy" is costing the industry "billions" of dollars. If you believe that line, they've already won.

Regards.

[oddbod77]

Totally, did you read the music companies ridiculous reasoning? Basically they are trying to say that copy protection is justified because CDR sales have gone up massively compared to music CD sales and since people couldn't possibly be using all those CD's for data storage it must be for making pirate copies.

[vitualis]

Ridiculous -- but the public is letting them get away with it. Same with these "protected" audio CDs that by all rights shouldn't even be called CDs. There should be a general boycott of these products but the general public just isn't well informed enough (or too apathetic to care) and that's what the industry is counting on...

Regards.

[Greg12]

Did anyone hear this?

Along time ago, I read that Phillips was going to revoke the right to use the CDDA logo on any CD that has copy protection and do develop burner's that can burn copy protected audio.

They were pissed at the RIAA for putting their logo on non-red book CD's.


Did this ever go through?

[vitualis]

The Sony method above doesn't use the CD-DA logo.

However, it LOOKS like a CD and most consumers probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference...

Regards.

[oddbod77]

And for anyone who's thinking "it wont happen" check out these two responses to customer complaints about being sold dodgy (ie protected) CD's:

"All CDs will be protected and you are a filthy pirate"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/28009.html

"'No more music CDs without copy protection,' claims BMG unit"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/27960.html
[/url]

[snowmoon]

I actually asw and would fully support new legislation that gave content publishers 2 options.

1) Standard CD's that are not protected and they receive the full proteciton of the law and subsidies based on blank media being sold. The currently receive a subsidy of like $1/disc for blank DAT and "music" CD's sold.

2) Use Copy protected media and receive no subsidy and a lessend copyright protection since the consumer will have reduced fair use rights.

They are attempting to have it both ways and they should not be able to. Either you receive copyright protection and your users are allowed fair use or you sell the content without (or reduced ) legal copyright protection since you are not allowing fair use.

[SquirrelDip]

Quick qualification to my above statement:

I agree totally that the RIAA is not losing money - they're just not making as much as they once did. As far as their bean counters are concerned it's the same as losing money...

[djethan]

For a brighter outlook on the issue, you should really check out this paper by Microsoft's very own Paul England (an official M$ paper no less!) that essentially says that copy protection is a terminaly losing battle, as is the fight against P2P etc., and everyone should give up now.

http://www.quicktopic.com/18/D/drkxtY8TMZH6b.html

His three main assumptions are:

1. Any widely distributed object will be available to a fraction of users in a form that permits copying.

2. Users will copy objects if it is possible and interesting to do so.

3. Users are connected by high-bandwidth channels.

Number one, he explains, asserts that any "object" (any intellectual property including movies, music, software, etc...) no matter how copy protected, will somehow become available. Even if it means that some expert must crack it. He asserts that if there is enough interest in the object, it is ABSOLUTELY UNAVOIDABLE.

It's just refreshing that not ALL big corporations are deluding themselves. Whether this paper is taken to heart now, while Big Capitalism can still make some money competing on the Internet's terms, or later, when their business has been severely marginalized, remains to be seen.

I say, let the RIAA and the MPAA shoot themselves in the feet with these awful copy-proofing schemes that make their products that much less desirable and marketable. The more bungled a commercial CD is, the more likely someone is to get the music online. Period.

Ten years from now when they finally admit they were wrong, they will be a shadow of their former selves, and thus, much less able to piss us off. Artists will always find their audiences. The RIAA is an impediment to this, if anything.