Customer Reviews

Life in Slow Motion

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

With all due respect to the reviewers who don't think that the copy protection is an issue, they are missing the point.

For the record, I have no problem with artists and record companies who wish to protect their intellectual property. At issue here is the technological means employed by Sony.

When you play Sony's CDs on your computer, "rootkit" software is installed. It enforces the copy protection by intercepting all communication to and from the CD drive. Although not a virus in itself (it won't attempt to spread itself to other machines), it employs many of the same techniques used by viruses, to make it next to impossible to detect and remove. This software has many unfortunate side effects, including the potential to crash your computer, the creation of a backdoor for other viruses (any file or registry key beginning with certain characters is hidden from the operating system), and a small but continuous drain on your computer's processing power - even when you aren't listening to music.

In response to criticism, Sony has released a patch. But this patch only mitigates the problem of the virus-hiding potential. The software remains nearly impossible to remove. Incorrect attempts to remove it can render your CD drive unusable.

If you like Gray's music, and if the CD will play on your home stereo, then have at it. But if your intention is to play it on your computer, then I'm afraid that the only safe way to do so is to create or obtain a copy that illegally circumvents the copy protection.

for further information, search for "sory rootkit" on the sysinternals website.

David Gray, being one of my very favorite artists ever, finally comes along with some new and wonderful material and it is, sadly, in this abusive (to the honest consumer) copy-protected format. I have paid so much money over the years for the huge number of CDs I own (legally) and I bet, in that respect, that I represent a majority of music fans: we're honest and we're willing to pay for our music. Owning it should include the right to use it freely on our PCs, Macs, iPods, and anything else for the rest of our lives. Oh yeah, and without infecting our computers with stealthy sabotage software.

When I understand how little money the artists actually earn from album sales, I realize that this fight over copyright is entirely about the pocket-lining of parasitic A&R people and all the no-talent scum that control the industry (like the very people who blew off David Gray earlier in his career because one of his albums didn't meet "sales expectations").

I hope this most recent move is the beginning of the end for the music industry as we've known it. I'm cutting them off just like I did with Microsoft when they started treating me like a pirate even though I own everything of theirs that I've ever used. (Three cheers for Newton's third law bringing us the Open Source movement!)

Someday I hope that all artists operate their own web sites and we can somehow buy direct from them. Let's cut the dirt out of the loop. We've seen enough on how the record companies feel about us and about the artists. For my money, they add NOTHING OF VALUE to the equation.

Music: 5 stars
CD: 1 Star
Record company execs: Lower than dirt.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT play this on a PC. It will install a "rootkit" (similar to a virus) on your PC. This is impossible to remove and a backdoor to other viruses. This is a serious security threat to your PC function and your privacy (this software "phones home" every time you listen to the cd, reporting your IP address).

I would recomment not buying it, if you really like this music, listen to it on the radio instead...

Don't buy this CD! What good is it if you can't listen to it? It won't play on most car CD players and some home stereo CD players. If you stick it in your computer, you will be infected with SONY ROOTKIT DRM that could cripple your computer!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS CD!!!!

Copy protected CD's place hidden software on your PC. This is not acceptable. Do not buy this CD.

I bought this CD not being aware of Copy Protection CDs. I wish I had known about it, because I probably would never have bought this CD.

In order to listen to this CD on a computer it installs SunnComm's MediaMax DRM copy protection, which I equate to parasitic spy ware or virus ware that severely limits this albums usefulness. SunnComm's only suggested way, to rip and encode the songs for use in a MP3 player, is using the inadequate software provided on CD. In doing so you end up down sampling the audio quality twice (once to wma then again to mp3), resulting in poor sounding music files.

I have a collection of hundreds of LEGAL CDs, which I encode into a personal (read not shared) music library to enjoy as I please. I use to pride myself on being an honest musical customer by purchasing each CD, but this copy protection is a slap in the face. I will be sure not to purchase another copy protection CD ever again.

This is a wonderful record, as others have said. Five stars for the music. But it's COPY PROTECTED! You can't use it.

When you try to copy this disc onto your computer, the first thing you'll see is a Legal Agreement window, saying that you can copy the disc twice, and if you try to copy it again you're subject to being arrested. Arrested!! I mean!! I PAID for this disc. I live in the 21st century, so I put my music on my computer, then I back it up to discs, then I buy new computers, and take the music in the car on CD's, etc. I need to make multiple copies -- but according to the people at Sony I'll be *arrested* if I do!!!

Next you're asked to agree to this threat, this impediment on your use of the music you PAID for. If you say no, the disc ejects. The end. Well, almost. In my case the copy-protection software crashed my computer and I had to hunt for it and delete it. It's essentially a virus that demands to be installed.

If you agree to the restrictions on your listening to the music that you PAID for, an awful program called MediaMax installs itself on your computer, whether you like it or not. You CANNOT play this CD with iTunes, MusicMatch, Windows Media Player or any other computer software. You can ONLY play it with MediaMax. You cannot index it with your other records, you cannot mix the tunes onto your playlist. You basically can't use it.

I'm sorry, but I say NO! Sony will NOT intimidate and cheat me in this way. Lest you get sentimental over their BS about "supporting the artist," you should know that the average musical act gets somewhere between 16 and 25 cents - cents, as in pennies - from the sixteen dollars that you paid for the disc. Only the very top names get any more.. If you really want to support an artist, go see them in concert, because the way they make any real money is from ticket sales on tour. I saw David Gray last night at Radio City in New York, and he was fabulous! I loved the concert, and felt good about supporting him.

To reclaim my consumer rights to the entertainment I legally purchased - PAID for - I copied the disc using an audio copy, soundcard to soundcard, to eliminate copy protection.. This will defeat ANY copy protected disc. If you can hear it, you can record it. It's easy, anyone can do it, and you'll have an unprotected original that you can copy as many times as you want, or load it into your iTunes, iPod, MusicMatch or whichever jukebox you like.

Here's how: First, you'll need an audio editing program. I use Adobe Audition, which is great but pricey. There are lots of free and shareware audio programs out there, at places like Tucows and Shareware dot com. Get one; they're useful for clipping excess applause, talking between songs, etc. Take a CD player, plug the audio or auxiliary output into your computer's soundcard input, play the CD and record it on your computer with the sound editing program. Copy protection has no effect on this. It's very simple, really easy. If you use a good CD player and your computer has a good sound card (about $50) the sound will be *indistinguishable* from the original. *Perfectly* clear! No deterioration. Or you can use a second computer, which I do, and plug the output of one soundcard to the input of the other. After the CD is recorded, split the album into song tracks in the sound editor program by cutting and pasting each song one at a time into a new music file - again, very easy - and save each music file with the name of each song. It takes less than a minute per track. Save the tracks as "WAV" files, which are highest quality. Do not use MP3 here; that's important! Later you can convert to MP3 if you like. Finally, load the tracks into your jukebox - I use MusicMatch - and assign track numbers and the album title. Another 2 minutes. Total time 12 to 13 minutes once you're familiar with the process. I now have the music on three computers and I made several CD's of it. The copies sound perfect, crystal clear, master quality - and they're not copy protected. And they shouldn't be!!!

Tell all your friends not to be be suckered into PAYING for the crippled, damaged goods Sony is foisting on us. If enough people do that, it'll be like a grassroots rebellion. The morons at Sony might get the message. They're screwing up their business so badly that they just laid off 10,000 people. Brilliant maneuvers like cutting their own throats by harassing, intimidating and threatening their own PAYING customers is one reason. If they keep up the KGB-like copy protection, they'll lose even more.

Grrrrrr! I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more! And you don't have to, either.

I have loved David Gray's music for 4 years. He is a hardworking artist and deserves to be paid for his work, as all artists do, but the copy protection on Life in Slow Motion goes beyond the pale. I cannot even hear the music or watch the DVD.

I purchased the dualdisc version of this cd and neither iTunes nor the DVD player on my new Mac can read either side. It's not a problem with the computer; every other cd and dualdisc I've ever loaded has worked. Not this one--the computer just kicks the disc right back out. The copy protection has made the disc useless. I still don't even know what the album sounds like.

Why would David Gray agree to this--did he even have a choice? The miscreants at Sony BMG should be ashamed of themselves. They must be aware of iTunes and the iPod: millions of people use them every day, and use iTunes as their home stereo. And Sony's decision is to make this cd totally useless to all those people? And by the way there is absolutely NOTHING on the packaging of the dualdisc that says it will be incompatible with a Mac. It just says "not all DVD and CD players will play the audio side of this disc." What does that even mean? Why would a new computer not be able to play it? And how does anyone know whether it will work on their system or not?

I will never buy another "copy protected" cd, at least by Sony, and I'm returning this useless dog. They've not only stopped copying, which may be legit, but they apparently believe even after you've purchased it, that they can determine how and if you're able to listen to the music. I'd love to rate the music if I could hear it.

What a disgrace.

This CD includes copy-protection by SunnComm, as disclosed on the "compatibility" label on the back of the CD packaging.

If you are using a Windows PC, it will install anti-copying software onto your computer, which will restrict the copies you can make. In particular, this CD will not rip into iTunes (there are workarounds for iPod owners, involving burning an unprotected copy, then ripping that.) For complete details, see <a href="http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=925">http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=925</a>.

The copy-protection should not affect Macintosh or Linux computers.

This is NOT the "rootkit" copy protection that Sony is including in some other CDs (that technology is based on the XCP2 system by First 4 Internet).

The copy protection is NOT included on the DualDisc version of this album.

"David Gray knows what makes a singer stand out. "They can put a lifetime in a line," he says. "Singers like Nina Simone or Van Morrison or Tim Buckley have voices that tell a story. But it's one that works on a different level. It's never literal. The realm of what's possible expands when you listen to them." "Life In Slow Motion "is the consummate product of two years of near-constant evolution, described by David as 'the tip of an iceberg' of new material generated along the way."

Born in Manchester, UK, in 1968, Gray grew up in Wales before attending the University of Liverpool. While in school, he played in a few punk bands, and then began exploring new styles of writing. He took his cue from The Sigur Ros records, Sparklehorse's It's A Wonderful Life, Lucinda Williams' World Without Tears and albums like Deserter's Songs, where things are a bit more structured. He hired producer Marius De Vries (whose previous clients include U2, David Bowie and Madonna) to oversee a far more complex sound.

The first song, "Alibi' may be the biggest hit. It starts off very sparse with David's acoustic guitar and then builds into the greatness of song.

"The One I Love"- a beautiful a song about bleeding to death and it takes a few listens to fully understand. The single that came out first; it is the quintessential David Gray.

"Lately"- This is a song that tells us what is going on, a little too much.

"Nos Da Cariad"-The inspirational song `Nos Da Cariad' It means `Goodnight Sweetheart,' in Welsh.

"Slow Motion" -the song from the cd's title- not autobiographical, Gray insists, but somehow it fits in with the image of this CD,.

"From Here You Can Almost See." David Gray thinks "it's one of the best things I've ever written by a mile, lyrically."

"Ain't No Love"- This is my favorite part of the record. I think the lyrics and the imagery are the best.

"Hospital Food"- David Gray says, "Hospital food is what we all eat everyday. The nanny state, TV-gobbling idiocy that we call passing time, is basically hospital food, you get a lot of s**t thrown on your plate, and you eat."

"Now and Always"-It's almost like a blues song, it goes along in a strange kind of lilting way.

"Disappearing World"-Marius De Vries, the producer came up with the Bowie-esque `Na-na-na-na-na." A lovely, lyrical ending.

The seventh album from David Gray has his stamp all over it, with the addition of a full orchestra, and the genius of a producer who can put all of the parts together. This is a winner and the CD I have been waiting for. Recommended. prisrob