Burn out: Copy protected CDs cause fan frustration By Heather V. Eng Thursday, July 21, 2005 - Updated: 08:14 AM EST
Music lovers, especially those who have a PC and an iPod, might want to read the fine print the next time they go CD shopping.
In an attempt to curb what they call ``schoolyard piracy' - the practice of ripping and burning CDs - major record labels have started issuing new releases with high-tech copy protection. Users will find they can only make a limited number of copies of these CDs; most iPod users will not be able to import the music onto their players at all. Several months ago, Sony BMG Music Entertainment quietly started putting copy protection on CDs by such big-name artists as the Dave Matthews Band and the Foo Fighters. This week, EMI Music released its first protected CD, ``Jermaine Dupri Presents . . . Young, Fly & Flashy, Vol.1.'
``We need to send a signal to consumers that unlimited copies of CDs for friends and other people extraneous to their household was not something they should be doing,' said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG president of Global Digital Business.
Sony BMG and EMI currently use different technology, but both companies' protected CDs allow users to burn only three copies of a disc.
iPod and iTunes users will find that CD copy protection does more than limit CD burning. So far, Apple has refused to license its FairPlay software to Microsoft or record labels. As a result, music transferred from protected CDs through a PC won't play on iPods and iTunes.
``It's an issue with Apple,' said Hesse. ``We can't do that much about it.'
Apple, which declined to comment, holds approximately 70 percent of the digital audio player market, but only only 4 percent of the computer market. Since most iPod owners use PCs, not Macs, they'll find they can't transfer music from copy protected CDs onto their iPods.
For consumers, copy protection can be an unhappy surprise.
``A bunch of customers have come back trying to return the CDs because they're unaware of the technology,' said Nate Campany, a Newbury Comics employee. ``People are unaware that there's a block on it and it's a big disappointment to want to put something on your iPod and not be able to.' But Hesse said determined PC users can get the music onto their iPods: transfer the music files to a PC, use a Windows Media burn engine to copy those files onto a CD, rip those files again and transfer them into iTunes.
``It's cumbersome, but if you absolutely want to do it, you can do it,' Hesse admitted.
Bill Werde, Billboard senior news editor, believes consumers should not have to deal with such inconveniences.
``Customers . . . just want to play music where they want to play music,' he said. ``And music fans shouldn't have to care about (the standoff between Apple and record labels). That's a back-end music issue that should have been resolved before this (technology) was released to the masses.'
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