Customer Reviews

In Your Honor

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4 star:		(101)
3 star:		(51)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(121)

 

 

So I just bought the new FF CD. There is a sticker on the package that says:

This CD is protected against unauthorized duplication.

Whatever. So I pop the CD in the computer so that I can rip it and put it on my iPod. The CD starts playing some auto play stuff and then an embedded Windows Media Player comes up in a web page and allows you to play the songs. Exit. I went into iTunes and hit Import to rip the tracks. When it finished I went to play the tracks and they were all garbled. What's going on?

The CD is protected. It will only allow you to play it on a computer with its technology. You cannot rip tracks from the CD. It specifically states that you cannot move the songs to an iPod because they (in so many words) don't like Apple and Apple isn't working with them so screw Apple. Huh? No, screw you. I like Apple and I just bought your music. But by the way, this album is available at the iTunes Music Store.

After doing some research, it turns out that this company is putting their copy protection on more and more CDs. This one happens to be the first one that I have bought. So now what? How does this work? Turns out that when Windows starts to auto-run the CD, it quickly installs a hidden driver on your machine that is used to garble the sound of CDs protected by this technology. So now my computer is "infected" with this driver. Some grad school student figured this out a while back and let the world know if you just hold down the shift key, Window's auto-run does not run and you have ready access to the CD. They threatened to sue him.

That solution is too late for me, I already have this installed. More research and system scans pointed me to a hidden driver on my machine called SbcpHid. You will find it in your Windows\System32\Drivers directory. So all you have to do is go into the Windows device manager, find it, stop it. Now you can rip. If you want it off your machine, you can uninstall it from there too.

While there was a sticker on the front of the CD, I found this to be very sneaky. I mean installing hidden drivers on your computer. The driver is not marked with any company name or details so you don't know what it is. The timestamp of the driver was manually adjusted so you couldn't tell that this was installed today. This sounds like most of the spyware that we are all trying to rid our computers of.

So where does that leave us? If you buy the music in a store, you can only play on these certain devices? If I would have bought this music at the iTunes music store, I am limited to what Apple wants me to do. So in this case, if I wanted a good old CD case and disc plus the music on my iPod, I would have to buy the same music 2 times according to the record company. That isn't right. Fair use law dictates it. If the industry doesn't get this figured out, we are going to be in trouble. For now, I guess you and I need to be selective about how we buy our music.

Potential buyers who wish to play this "copy protected" CD on their computers are advised that their machine will be infected by malicious software if they attempt to do so. THIS SOFTWARE WILL BE INSTALLED, WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT, EVEN IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO ACCEPT THE LISCENSE AGREEMENT!!. Additional deceptive practices are used to make detection and removal of this software difficult (e.g., by altering the datestamp of the installed file)

This practice should be unlawful and, indeed, in most countries it is. Unfortunately, the US government is more interested in protecting the rights of corporations than it is the rights of its citizens. The only recourse Americans have is to expose manufactures who use such deceptive practices and to refuse to purchase their products

In response to the commentator (June 29, 2006) who wrote that the software was "annoying, but very easy to surpass...If you don't mind doing a little research": Even if you have the time and expertise necessary to research the issue, PLEASE consider the broader implications of buying products like this. If corporations are allowed to succeed in such relatively benign experiments, there is nothing to prevent them from installing more sophisticated and ambitious software in the future ...software which would be more difficult to remove and which would pose a greater threat to your privacy. For example, the software installed by CD could easily be modified to serve as spyware or to sabotage programs the manufacturer doesn't want you to use. HELP STOP THIS THREAT IN THE BUD: PLEASE DO NOT BUY THESE "COPY PROTECTED" CDS AND BOYCOTT THE COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTURE THEM.

For help in repairing systems compromised by this CD, I suggest you begin by searching the Web using the keyword "SbcpHid.sys" (the name of a file installed by the CD in the Windows\System32\Drivers directory).

Sony's copy protection scheme installs harmful rootkit software on Windows machines. This software can crash your machine, and make it easier for viruses to infect you. By design, it is impossible to uninstall without advanced technical skills.

Sony recently released a patch to mitigate these concerns. However, the patch only addresses the issue of potential virus infection. Uninstalling the software is still nearly impossible, and if attempted incorrectly can render your CD drive unusable.

For more information, check out this site:

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html

While every corporation/radio station/(insert organization here) is giving away Ipods & Mp3 players, Foo Fighters' record label decides that in order to cut down on piracy, they will prevent us (buying customers) from being able to download this cd into our music libraries. The old phrase above comes to mind.

Luckily I haven't opened the CD yet and I damn well plan to return it. Not to make a statement but simply because I consider music 75% pointless if I can't listen to it on my portable audio.
IDIOTS!

Firstly, whether you are a Foo Fan who's been buying their albums for the last ten years (Like I am), or think the band cooked this nightmare of a disc up on their own (Instead of being coerced by their label) some facts are indisputable:

1. Many people think this was a good album which was poorly fabricated. Sound quality issues are rife, DRM issues aside.
2. There are places where installing software on the users PC WITHOUT informing the owner or allowing to cancell installation is illegal! Where it is NOT illegal, it damn well should be.
3. Crashed systems have been confirmed with the DRM in use by this disc.
4. Failure to play in car\portable CD players have been confirmed with this disc.
5. Legal protections of "Fair Use" of music\movies ALLOW people to backup their originals (I'd happily give this up if they are all required to replace scratched\damaged\destroyed [e.g. house fire] media at no cost to the consumer, but for some reason they don't want to) and make duplicates to their hearts content to play anywhere\anyhow they want so long as they have the original. THIS WOULD INCLUDE EXTRACTING TO MP3 FOR USE ON AN IPOD!!!
6. iPod Users CANNOT play this disc on their iPods! Of course the label is only TOO HAPPY to sell you a SECOND copy that you CAN play on your iPod . . . Anyone think that's fair?
7. SCORES of (Former) fans are stuck with an unreturnable album they would NEVER have bought if they knew to be virulently crippled in this way.
8. I will never buy another Foo Fighters disc, nor any disc that is protected after this experience. I'm also NOT alone in deciding this.

"Protections" like this abuse the rights of the fans, make the artists look bad, and probably actually ENCOURAGE illegal music downloads. Since you can reportedly rip this without issue in a Mac, it stands to reaon someone will (or has) rip these on a Mac or Linux box and distribute it!

The music industry DOES NOT GET IT!!! Treating paying customers like thieves will only cost you customers. According to the DMCA (A REALLY bad law signed by that phillandering buffoon Bill Clinton) attempting to circumvent this criminal protection scheme is a felony! So you can vote with your wallet and NOT buy, or pay twice for the same album. Unacceptable.

Sign a petition to repeal the DMCA and de-criminalize a permanent FIX for this kind of garbage! Developers need to be able to kill\prevent malware\spyware masquerading as "DRM" without fear of prosecution!

http://www.petitiononline.com/nixdmca/petition-sign.html

Antivirus vendors should also tag this criminal garbage as hostile and allow it's easy removal.

I love the music, I just wish I could play it on my computer and MP3 player. Unfortunately, the copy protection software installed on this disk prevents that.

I am one of the few people left who actually believes that artists should be paid for their music and makes a point of buying and not pirating CDs. In return for being a good citizen, I get a CD that is unplayable. Goodbye Foo Fighters. Hello KazAA.

Copy protect this Sony!
From the ones that brought us SACD surround (before dropping it, after not promoting it) and SACD playing on their DVD machines (without the ability to play the competition DVD-A surround format): Sony now presents us with copy protection that also screws around with our computers.
Even though I would love to have the surround disc (only 1 of the 2 discs) I think I will skip this one Sony, just like I have passed on your playing equipment. Pass the Beta, fools!

Sorry guys. I love your work and I've bought everything you've released upto this point, but I have to vote with my wallet this time.

I hope it wasn't your decision to distribute with copy protection and it's just Sony's corporate pissing match against Apple at the expense of their customer base.

Why should I listen to poor quality audio? I want to appreciate all the work you put into this, not downgrade my audio experience by losing quality getting this onto my iPod just to 'play fair' with Sony's DRM.

I'm sure the album rocks, but I hope you'll re-release without Sony's DRM. Chalk up yet another Sony product consumer loss for me this year. Next year I won't be buying a PS3 and it's even more crippling Blu-Ray DRM either. I regrettably can't trust any Sony product from this point onwards; Foo Fighter DVD/Blu-Ray discs included.

I had planned on buying this, I was looking forward to the new album for a while now. Luckily I read the reviews here. I will not now or ever buy a CD that limits my playing capabilities. If that means that I limit my new music purchases, so be it. There's a lot more out there. Thanks RCA for saving me $17.

While only the regular edition is listed as copy protected by Amazon's information, the Limited Edition is copy protected as well. There is even a small note stating that the audio portion of this Dualdisc does not conform to CD standards; so this isn't a CD. Thats terrible. Here's a note to all bands releasing copy protected "CD"s . I am a customer and a fan, not a thief - Treat me as a theif and i will not be a customer or a fan anymore. I don't buy copy protected discs, so this one goes back. Pity. Disabling Auto-Insert works, but I shouldn't have to.