Problem CDs
A reader responds...
I read with interest your article and explanation of the various tactics used. Thus, I had to write to inform users of a way to circumvent some of these problems and freely be able to make a fair use copy.
The key seems to be to prevent the operating system from displaying the files directly i.e. when you insert the disc the operating system will ask you (at least in Windows XP Professional) which application you want to open the data with. Cancelling this query stops the drive. Using Explorer only seems to make the drive unstable and locks the CD requiring a reboot.
It would seem that Nero Burning ROM 5 has no problem reading the data and therefore copying it once the CD is in the drive. I have found that Nero will copy the CD if the 'copy CD' option is used i.e. it does not try to seperate the audio tracks from the shell used to encrypt them. Thus you have a copy as per the original.
I would like to take issue with your comments about the so called levy on home copiers. Your article states that it has not been introduced in the UK. How can this be true; in that 99% of copiers (e.g. my Pioneer 609) are sourced from the far east (and therefore the manufacturer will have paid the levy in the far east); in that all consmer audio CDRs have the levy incoroporated into the price; and in that home copiers will not record onto 'professional' i.e. cheap 'levy free' computer disks?
I have many years experience in copying material for use in the car, walkman, etc., which goes back to the days of audio cassette and Nakamichi high end cassette decks. What the record companies fail to understand is that I will buy the original CD if it is worth buying. If I have a copy of someones else's CD it is because I would never have bought it in the first place so where is the loss? Do the record companies not recognise that there is a multitude of ther reasons why their sales have fallen:
- high prices compared to the cost of materials
- no 'massive' popular acts like in the 80s or 90s
- too many media-created acts like Popstars etc., with a shelf life of fresh fish
- consumer spending on DVD (they fail to state the huge profits they are making)
Finally, as a hi-fi enthusiast I can see all too well technology converging between computer-based and audio-based entertainment, which will present serious compatibility problems in the future for the record companies and the hi-fi manufacturers. It seems a shame that we seem to be going backwards in reproducing music not forwards (sound quality flaws in DVD-A and CDs).
P.C., France