Copy protected Audio CD

[Mohnish72]

How can I copy an Audio CDs which is copy protected. Can I rip them to MP3. Kindly let me know any software which can do this.

[mats.hogberg]

This site mainly deals with conversion of video between different formats - not ripping audio CDs.
Depending in protection scheme, best tool may vary, but I've not been unsuccessful with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to backup protected "CDs". If you have a Plextor drive, PlexTools is pretty good at this too.
A third option is to get an old CD Reader (2-4 spin era) that doesn't have the "feature" many protection schemes exploit.

/Mats

[orbital517]

I just bought the new Dido CD and made a backup copy using Nero 6. The CD was copy protected but it burned and plays just fine.

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

CloneCD always works fine for me. It even removes the copy protection track

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[maa]

I have a copyprotected CD that says on it "This CD will not work on a computer" - and its right - the drive just blinks and is not accessable with any tool.

Copy only possible via SPDIF.

[ChrisX]

This really depends on the DVD-ROM or CD-ROM in use. Try Sony.

Some aren't reading copy-protected CDs at all and some can only play the CD. If you are lucky, can read, copy and play the music CD.

In some cases a copy-protected CD can damage some music program or software and muck-up the computer. Don't let it install anything in the computer either. I want the music. Just press the shift key while inserting the CD.

In one of my computers, a DVD-ROM can't read or play a copy-protected CD and two others I was able to only play them.

Finally in another computer, a new Sony DVD-ROM was able copy the tracks into Mp3 into the hard drive very quickly and not a problem.

Not all DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs are the same and try them out in different computers and you'll be surprized.

[hech54]

I have a copyprotected CD that says on it "This CD will not work on a computer" - and its right - the drive just blinks and is not accessable with any tool.

Copy only possible via SPDIF.

Clone CD will take care of it. Open CloneCD...leave your tray open with the CD inside. THEN do whatever CloneCD tells you and it will interrupt your computer trying to read (or NOT read) the CD.

[theDruid]

AudioGrabber is a good utility for backing up audio CD's which cannot be copied in a conventional way (e.g. Nero etc..).

There's a free version for download.

The free version is available at no cost, and can copy only half the tracks without restarting the program. The registered version costs $20 and has no such restrictions.

In conjunction with the LAME mp3 codec, it's also an excellent tool for backing up your CD's as mp3 files.

cheers,
mcdruid.

[p0rnLiME]

I agree with mats.hogberg, EAC (www.exactaudiocopy.de) as a grabber is the best! Then I use Lame with RazorLame GUI to encode.

[pighead]

Today at www news.com, a PHD candidate announced that by holding down the "shift" key you can bypass the new copy-protection scheme that BMI is testing (disables Microsoft's autorun function) that auto-loads the software that defeats backing up.

Good luck on your back-up.

[maa]

Interesting tips!

I managed to copy the same CD (Shakira) with my liteOn 52x burner - using CD2WAV (jap prog with Gogo codec = fast)

[Gazorgan]

I'd like to point out there is no way to copy protect an Audio CD, period, endo of story. If you wan't to have 1/2 the CD players stop working, then yes there is a way... If you don't run the anti-copying software, then you can copy it....stop installing the software :P

Turn off your autorun

[ChrisX]

A Princeton University Student says there is a very simple way to disable a new kind of copy-protection technology.

All you have to do is press a shift key when inserting a CD into the drive and this stops the anti-copying program from running in the computer.

Check out: http://www.msnbc.com/news/977144.asp?cp1=1

This what they suggested, “The protection would deter most average listeners’ copying” This is ridiculous and an unworkable anti-copy software. How can they stop someone from doing this, copying the CD.

I use the shift key all the time on the computer and very rarely listen to it from the disk itself. The shift key is also very useful stopping any unwanted program installing in the computer. I only want the songs and nothing else.

The record companies suggested that listeners would miss out on extras in the CD if the anti-copying software not loaded on the computer. What they are saying is that they won’t be able to access to the second session tracks, videos and other bonus material. I say, so what.

I only want the songs and nothing else in the CD.

I don’t have to buy expensive computer software to beat the anti-copying CD. It works with a shift key and this is simple way do it with a great Sony DVD-ROM drive.

You only need to copy it once then listen to it as many times as you like on your computer. The record companies aren't losing money over copied songs for personal use on the computer.

The way record companies carrying on is ridiculous and a copy-protected CD does stop the customer from buying it. What is point of buying if it is unplayable?

Copy-protected CDs do fail as mostly do and there are many ways to copy songs.

[powaking]

I've been pondering this thought. I have a Dreamcast with a broadband adapter. I've tested out ripping an audio track from a CD back to my computer in raw format using a tool to communicate with the dreamcast on my PC. Then converted the raw format to MP3 and played fine.

I'm no sure how the Dreamcast would handle copy protected CDs as I have not come across any.

Has anyone else tried this method??

[mkelley]

As a general rule I haven't ripped any CDs in a long time (I'm an old fart so the "new" stuff doesn't interest me) but yesterday I bought the new Elvis disk (see -- old fart) "2nd to None" and for the first time I found a *problem* trying to rip to MP3 (so I can play on my iPod).

Indeed, I'm right in the middle of the problem right now -- I use CDex to rip, and it normally takes around 35 seconds for a track. It's at 16 minutes (and counting -- estimating around 24 minutes) which at this rate will mean it will take about 9 hours to rip this CD, assuming it works at all.

If the rip does work all this "copy protection" has done is slow down things a very long time -- I assume the theory is that even a direct copy will take such a preposterously long time it will deter thieves -- but I'm not sure how they are doing this (Cdex will report if there are errors on the CD but hasn't found any yet, so it doesn't look like they put deliberate read errors in).

I'll report back if and when I ever get this thing ripped -- it might be useful information to somebody.

[mkelley]

I'm reporting back -- was finally able to successfully rip the "2nd to None" CD.

I gave up on using Cdex -- it never would complete even one track. I tried Nero but no luck. Was about to do a web search when I thought I might give Record Now a shot... and it worked just fine.

Well, sort of. It ripped to .WAV files each track when I did them individually, but I couldn't do all of them at once because I got data errors. And even individually I had to redo the second track about four times before I got it to work (but it was fine on the fourth try).

The CD was brand new so I doubt whether there were any disk errors other than the ones (perhaps) the creators put on. But at least there was a workaround (and Record Now, always my favorite DVD burning package, has now assumed a much higher status in my eyes).

[Viper10000]

Monish72,

If we are talking about the new "MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System" developed by SunnComm Technologies and adopted by various recoding company such as BMG, then here is the way to disable it. Checkout the following white paper by John A. Halderman of Princeton University:

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/%7Ejhalderm/cd3/

[mkelley]

That's a very interesting paper (thanks for the link). Perhaps the most interesting part about it (in terms of audio CDs) is the observation that schemes which alter the disk by corrupting tracks, etc. have failed because it then causes problems in car and DVD players.

Right now it seems this kind of altering (such as the case with PS2 and XBox disks) is about all that can be done successfully -- and it only succeeds because in those cases the content producers control both ends (content as well as playback device). It also serves as a lesson for all of us to watch out for the next standard -- Blueray laser is almost bound to have DM software/hardware that *will* make it impossible to backup content (still yet another reason why adoption of this new standard will be much slower than either CD or DVD adoption).

[EddyH]

Gogo codec? Ew... one of the few things i've seen that EncSpot gives a red flag, and sounds pretty nasty to boot. Invest the time in a decent encode..

I've had autoinsert and autoplay turned off on my windows machine for quite a long time now, and the only problems it's caused... well, it hasn't caused any. There aren't any useful auto-run things i've come across so far that are worth the risk of bad stuff happening every time you insert the disc vs. the three seconds saved of going into My Computer and right-clicking for AutoPlay.
And I haven't had a CD (or DVD) yet that I couldn't rip. These two are possibly related..