Sony Adds New Copyright Method to CDs in 2003

Natoi writes "Sony is leaving Mac and **nix users out in the cold with their new copyright method called Label Gate CD copyright system. You'd have to be running Windows and use a Sony developed proprietary software to listen to CD's published by Sony starting next year." This seems a little extreme to me, since sitting at the computer just to listen to music is stupid. What about car stereos and high-fidelity CD players?

A New Sourceforge Project

[Vidiot3k]

LinuxGate.Sourceforge.net!

Just Desserts

[Anonymous Coward]

You guys did it to yourselves, by downloading all those mp3s from Napster/Kazaa/Gnutella, etc., you've given Sony the impression that you only listen to music in front of your computer.

You got what you wanted, sorry.

high-fidelity CD players

[ihowson]

What about car stereos and high-fidelity CD players?

What about low fidelity CD players? And all of those middle-range ones? Cheapskates have a right to music, too!

(I'm being an idiot, please move along)

urgh!

[RestiffBard]

screw this.

bring back the 8-track.

New Emulator Software Needed?

[starfire-1]

It seems to me that we may need a new emulator package to behave like a dumb car stereo. Perhaps it could be called the Multiple Audio Machine Emulator ... Hmmm, that sounds familiar. :)

Sony and trademarks/branding

[psyconaut]

MemoryGate...
MagicGate...
LabelGate...

If they start doing per-use billing, will they have a brand "BillGate" and will those "BillGates" then cause a huge lawsuit to be launched by our favourite WA resident? ;-)

-psy

I can...

[Duncan3]

I can crack it in 7 notes....

Re:It plays in Cars and CD Players, too!

[albeit unknown]

We've got both kinds of music data...Country AND Western!

Re:Do you people even READ THE ARTICLE

[Anonymous Coward]

/me runs by, catches playstation flying out of window

Wooo hooo!

Re:So what?

[Bowie J. Poag]

Dont give them any ideas. Before you know it, they'll take that out too.

Perhaps they should just cut to the chase and start making CD players without any external connectors whatsoever. No headphone jack, no speaker connectors, no nothing. I actually already have one of these -- I call it a "trashcan". It sits next to my desk... I put unplayable CDs into it all the time.

Cheers,

Re:whatever.

[ignorant_newbie]

for some reason, i have an image of a beige box with a 3 foot stack of cds sitting on top of it.

Sony artists include:

[GojiraDeMonstah]

• Ally McBeal (Television Soundtrack)
• Michael Bolton
• Mariah Carey
• Bing Crosby
• Europe [sonymusic.com]
• Footloose (15th Anniversary Collectors' Edition) (Various)
• Engelbert Humperdinck

And That's just up to the H's. I'm sorry, but they can pry my Bing out of my cold dead hands.

PS - "Zinglebert Bambledack!"

Sony and Microsoft........

[EEGeek]

Label Gate sounds an awful lot like the word Watergate.... hmmmm conspiracy between Sony and Microsoft? You decide....

Re:whatever.

[AKnightCowboy]

I would, but anyway I'm not expending my money on a company that treats me like that. If someone would be so kind of sending me a dump of the CD to crack it I'll think about it. And only on my spare time. None of my money will go to them.

Dear Consumer #2285203229, Your action of refusing to purchase the newest Sony produced album "Backstreet Boyz are Back Again 5" is in violation of the Consumer Copyright Abuse and Corporate Welfare Funding Law of 2015. In accordance with this law, a fine of $25.95 will automatically be deducated from your credit card if you have not purchased this CD within 7 days of the date of this letter to offset the losses of your illegal pirating of this CD. Sony takes non-compliance of purchasing music you have probably pirated very seriously and will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the Mandatory Consumer Credit Card Law of 2009 if you fail to have a credit card which can be charged the full amount. We are but a humble $95 billion media company and cannot afford to have rogue consumers such as yourself not doing your civic duty and buying our products. We hope this acts as a wake up call and remind you of your duty to purchase the upcoming "Britney Spears and N'Sync Reunion Christmas Special" CD which will be released next month. - Max Wineberger - Sony Consumer Enforcement Division

Memories?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh well, you'll always have your memories.

Are you remembering music you previously listened to?

You pirate! Report to the nearest RIAA office to have your memory erased immediately.

Unplayable formats rule...

[BSOD from above]

Sony should start releasing all new music coded in binary on a grain of rice. It is so perfect, no one would be able to reproduce the format. No more evil "file sharing". It leaves us all out in the cold when it comes to listening hardware, I can't think of a more fair and equitable solution.

Concerts could be held in sound proof windowless rooms, to prevent any type of recording of the artist by the audience.

I bet this would protect their profits.

New protectable format.

[dogfart]

Game's over. A way to definitively stop music piracy has been found. Note the following:

Music Industry Unveils New Piracy-Proof Format:
A Black, Plastic Disc With Grooves On It

Music bosses have unveiled a revolutionary new recording format that they
hope will help win the war on illegal file sharing which is thought to be
costing the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Nicknamed the 'Record', the new format takes the form of a black, vinyl
disc measuring 12 inches in diameter, which must be played on a specially
designed 'turntable'.

"We can state with absolute certainty that no computer in the world can
access the data on this disc," said spokesman Brett Campbell. "We are also
confident that no-one is going to be able to produce pirate copies in this
format
without going to a heck of a lot of trouble. This is without doubt the best
anti-piracy invention the music industry has ever seen."

As part of the invention's rigorous testing process, the designers gave some
discs to a group of teenage computer experts who regularly use file swapping
software such as Limewire and gnutella and who admit to pirating music CDs.
Despite several days of trying, none of them were able to hack into the
disc's code or access any of the music files contained within it.

"It's like, really big and stuff," said Doug Flamboise, one of the testers.
"I couldn't get it into any of my drives. I mean, what format is it? Is it,
like, from France or something?"

Teenage computer hackers struggled to access the new disc. In the new format,
raw audio data in the form of music is encoded by physically etching grooves
onto the vinyl disc. The sound is thus translated into variations on the
disc's surface in a process that industry insiders are describing as
'completely revolutionary' and 'stunningly clever.'

To decode the data stored on the disc, the listener must use a special
player which contains a 'needle' that runs along the grooves on the record
surface, reading the indentations and transforming the movements back into
audio that can be fed through loudspeakers.

Even Shawn Fanning, the man who invented Napster, admits the new format will
make file swapping much more difficult. "I've never seen anything like
this", he told reporters. "How does it work?"

Pirates: Their days are numbered. As rumours that a Taiwanese company has been
secretly developing a 12 inch wide, turntable -driven, needle-based, firewire
drive remain unconfirmed, it would appear that the music industry may, at
last, have found the pirate-proof format it has long been searching for.

BR

Re:EMI just did the same with the new Robbie Willi

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty sad that whenever a male slashdot poster has a girlfriend, he has to mention it in the first line of his post. Have you noticed this? I was at my girlfriend's house... my girlfriend's computer broke... my girlfriend noticed this rash... I seriously didn't make up the fact that I have a girlfriend because she's really a real person. :)

Re:whatever.

[jez9999]

Music industry creates 'unbreakable' DRM system

The music industry is reporting today that it has created an 'unbreakable' DRM system which should finally prevent pirates from illegally reproducing music. The system involves setting into law the requirement for everyone to wear headphones at all times which meet the new Digital Rights Management standard. These headphones will not allow users to listen to music which is unencrypted, according to major record labels. However, they do say that the headphones will allow users to hear most languages being spoken for a modest fee, as long as that language has been approved. Currently approved languages include English and Japanese, although the music industry say that more will be added soon, and that a minimal number of nations will need to change their official language to comply with the new standard.

In 5 years there will be 30 artists

[gelfling]

That's it. 30. Imagine that not only is there only bubblegum/R+B/chick/pop/girl-boy band/white rap hybrid muzak sludge but you have to pay to listen to it. You have to pay to not listen to it. You have to pay to complain about it.

They future's so bright I need a welding mask.

huh?!

[rsax]

What about car stereos and high-fidelity CD players?

You mean you don't buy a different CD for your car, cd player, home and office?!!

Re:not so fast to dismiss the law

[loraksus]

I think we could make the arguement that dylan couldn't sing ever. Thats just me tho

Re:whatever.

[Herkum01]

When it comes to the Backstreet Boys this cartoon [yahoo.com] says it all.