I just bought Coldplay's "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" yesterday at Target. I tried to listen to it on my computer and whatever program I used (iTunes, WMP, Winamp) froze while trying to read the CD. I tried to listen to it using Exact Audio Copy and while I could listen to the first track ("Politik") fine, all the other tracks would sound extremely staticy. I tried to rip "Clocks" which is my favorite song by them and EAC then locked up solid.

EDIT: I played it in my car CD player and it works fine in an audio CD player.

I read the CD over looking for anything about copy protection and didn't see anything listed except for this warning at the bottom of the back of the jewel case "Unauthorized Duplication is a Violation of Applicable Laws" which I think is just them trying to scare people into not sharing the music, not a warning that copy protection is on the CD.

My question is this: what can I do to rip this CD? I just ripped another CD I bought, Thursday: War All The Time with no problems and no errors. This Coldplay CD is in perfect condition looks wise, not a scratch on it or any red flag that would suggest that that ripping would be a problem. I have never encountered a problem like this before.

Next step (outside of anything you guys may suggest) is to try and rip this CD on another computer and see how that goes.

Did I buy a defective CD?

Does the disc contain the official logo for audio CD's?
It could be a copy protected disc, even without a warning on the packaging.

This is quite uninteresting.
A lot of CDs don't have the CD-DA logo anymore and they are still standard conform.
Jewel cases don't have the logo.

No CD-DA logo on it, but it has been infrequent to see it lately and I haven't had any problems with CD's that don't have it (of course they aren't copy protected).

Usually copy protected CD's have a warning.

Driving me nuts, I want to listen to this and rip it on my computer!

More info (using iTunes for Windows to play the CD):

Track 1: Played fine and sounded normal

Track 2: Starts to skip partway through and skips every second or two afterwards, with the CD drive on my laptop making some weird sounds like it is spinning up and down.

Rest of CD: Track won't even begin to play and locks up iTunes.

Remember, this is a brand new CD that was unopened at Target. No scratches or smudges of anykind on the surface of the CD. Plays perfectly fine in my car CD player, but gives my laptop fits. The other CD I bought yesterday plays perfectly on my laptop along with 10 other random CD's I tried from my collection, so I can't imagine it being a problem with my laptop.

Return the defective CD and demand a non-protcted one.
If they don't have a normal CD that does not drive you insane, get a money refund and download the album. Preferably from a legal online music joint*.

*lie

Depends on the copy protection used, I was lucky with my Muse and A Perfect Circle albums (...) and they were rippable with plextools and very slow speed, there is a cds200 thread here somewhere

it sounds like CDS200... but yeah, sony666 is right. the more people DEMAND non-protected CDs, the less incentive there is for companies to protect them.

excercise the principle of the customer is always right.

Hmm, I ripped this Coldplay CD before using my Lite-On 52x24x52 drive... But it's the Australian version. Not sure if it was copy protected or not though.

If you're unable to play it correctly on your PC or any other player, then it seems so. If it's copy-protected then it's defective for sure. Copy-protection is a violation of the CD Audio standard, and here where I live you can even demand to get your money back in a shop (in many cases).

Bring it back to the shop where you bought it and claim that it is broken, if the clerk or salesman says that it's OK and that it's only the copy-protection then don't resign. When you got your money back try to purchase a different version through mailorder (if one exists), or download in a "legal" online music store. I guess you will even find some lossless versions there...

If you can't get your money back, try to rip it with a different DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive. That seems to work, because... read on.

EDIT: Check this site, it's in German but still very easy to use and self-explanatory

c't-CD-Register

And here's an article about these broken CDs. It's in German, too, but maybe Babelfish will help if you can't understand it.

Ok, I checked the CD myself and there seems to be some trouble with this CD. Look here. Click the numbers

What I don't understand is why anyone would ever do anything with a CD that doesn't work, other than return it to the store.

OK, maybe play with it a little first

Cheers,
David.

I am going to try another computer to see if I can play this CD and then rip it.

If that doesn't work, I am going to Target and returning this.

I guess this means that this Coldplay CD in the United States is copy protected

It's not your job as a consumer to try to find a CD player that it will play on!

Cheers,
David.

Isn't it fun to see what the RIAA is doing to it's consumers today?

Ok, weird thing just happened.

I went to another computer and it played the CD 100% fine. No problems at all. After a WTF, I decided to make a quick and dirty burned copy of the CD using Nero on that computer. Bring it back to my laptop and the copy plays fine now.

I plan on running EAC on the other computer to make sure it copies 100% fine, but I have no clue why the original CD won't play on my laptop. Like I said, my laptop plays/rips any other CD fine.