The new Velvet Revolver album, "Contraband", is copy-protected. This is one of three discs that BMG is releasing in the U.S. this summer. The other two albums that will have copy protection in the U.S from BMG are: Angie Stone's "Stone Love" due out July 6 and Yung Wun's "Dirty Thirstiest" due out July 20. The copy protection used is SunnComm's copy protection.

I just thought that members here would like to know about these albums before purchasing them. Members on iPodlounge were reporting that they were having trouble importing the songs on the Velvet Revolver album using iTunes. I won't be purchasing this CD or the others mentioned above.

Here is a good article about this:
CNET - Labels to Dampen CD Burning?

Apart from Velvet Revolvers vocalist obviously purchasing the trousers Iggy used to wear in the middle-70's, are there any reasons to spend hard earned cash on such boring, fake, commercialy-stylized retro-crap anyways?

*ducks*

Most of the copy protected discs so far have (fortunately) not been amongst those who carry essential music...... let the ba***rds pay by not buying those pre-destructed discs!

For every year we go forwards, commercial rock music seems to be going backwards two or three. It is a weird phenomena, but one i find quite boring.

So just how clueless are the record execs? Don't they realize that all it takes is one contravention of their elaborate copy protection schemes before the cat's out of the bag?

If they even just missed the clue train, that'd be okay. These guys didn't even buy their tickets. Meh.

I just found out how rediculously easy the SunnComm MediaMax CD3 copy protection used by the above CDs is to bypass. Give this article a read. It's very interesting and informative. It explains how the copy protection works and discusses its weaknesses.

Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System

I saw a copy of the Velvet Revolver CD in a store today here in Australia. I do not think it has copy protection, or at least it does not state any protection format on the exterior of the CD. Most copy protected CDs I have seen do feature a logo (usually that stupid "Copy Controlled" logo). So possibly an option may be to get one from Australia, but ask them to confirm that it isn't copy protected before hand.

This is just one store. I have ordered from them previously, you may find it cheaper somewhere else:

http://www.chaosmusic.com/shop/product.asp?productID=1776902

mediamax is ridiculously easy to bypass. even if some people will have trouble copying CDs protected with mediamax, they can always go and download the music from the internet. not only most of the copy protections available are easy to bypass, which makes it easy for others to rip, but record labels don't use copy protection in every country. so, what is copy protected in one part of the world may not necessarily be protected in another part of the world.

this whole copy protection effort by the recording industry is by far a joke. it costs the consumer more money to buy the CD (because it costs more for the record labels to manufacture copy-protected CDs and pay the licensing fees to the developers of the technology, and this cost is passed along to the consumer), but also the consumer is paying for a corrupt product (copy protected CDs are not red book compliant and there are plenty of problems getting them to play in DVD players and car stereos).

here in canada i think the problem is slightly worst than the united states:

- BMG: already started testing copy protected titles here, but so far very limited
- EMI: literally every EMI CD and single released in canada is now protected with CDS200. this is going on for like 2 years. that doesn't stop EMI CDs from being easily swapped and copied all over the place
- sony music: i have not seen any corrupt CDs from them in canada
- universal: they used CDS once on a "fast and the furious" soundtrack and perhaps on a limited of other titles thereafter, but i have not seen any more corrupt CDs from them in a while

I'm not so sure Mediamax breaks the CD standard since it just relies on software to stop a user from copying the CD instead of actually altering the CD. I bought the Velvet Revolver disc since I liked the music (even though I said I wouldn't). The compact disc logo was on the CD. I ripped it without a problem. I just disabled autoplay in XP and nothing stopped me from ripping it. I don't mind copy protection like this since it just uses software to prevent copying, however, any protection that alters the CD I have problems with since it breaks the standard and compatibility with players. Plus they are just harder to get around, LOL.

I just bought and ripped this exact CD. Simple hold-down-shift-key trick works wonders here...

Stupid me, I accepted Mediamax's terms before I saw this thread. Now I can't make a clean rip. I followed the instructions from the link in this thread on how to disable the software, but I cannot find SbcpHid on my device manager list. (and yes, I clicked show hidden devices, and devices by connection) Is the driver called something else for the Velvet Revolver CD? Whatever its called, its still enabled on my PC. I need to get rid of this intrusive software!!!!

Maybe the CD has to be inserted for the driver to show up?

My autoplay is off by default on my ripping drive so I didn't have to deal with any of Mediamax's software. I have it off to prevent annoying autoruns on enhanced CDs from popping up on me.

I'm just curious, what exactly does pop up when you insert the CD with autoplay enabled?

Just the Mediamax autorun window which asks to accept the terms. I don't see anything pop up in my drivers.

I found this in step 5 of the instructions:

Insert the Anthony Hamilton CD into the computer and allow the SunnComm software to start. If MediaMax has never been started before on the same computer, the SbcpHid driver should appear on the list for the first time. However, on some systems Windows needs to be rebooted before the driver becomes visible.

Make sure that you reboot and have the CD in your drive and then look for the SbcpHid driver.

Bit of an update, maybe a stupid question... I just listened to the ripped copy of the CD right now, and it's horrible. Skipping everywhere. I'm pretty new to ripping copy-protected CDs, so should I use something besides EAC to rip this one?

in EAC, you need to turn off secure mode and use burst mode. you cd-rom is [correctly] reporting C1 and C2 errors to EAC (that's how copy control works) and EAC goes nuts by re-reading and trying to correct the errors, bypassing the cd-rom's internal error correction which would otherwise handle this stuff fine. unfortunately what you're left with is a garbled piece of crap file which is what the record company wants you to be left with.

burst mode lets the cd-rom handle the correction of the errors (interpolating the missing samples) and the resulting file should sound fine.

if you have scratches anywhere on the disc, you're screwed either way.

I thought mediamax only had the autorun crap, no cds2000 like protection?

i dunno.

<rant>
Copy protections are very common on audio discs here in EU.

I just took back four of the Brian Eno remasters, latest DJ Cam and another sixth album.

They all had Cactus Data Shield 200 on them.

I feel bad about causing extra work to the record stores, but I can't see any other way of sending the message to the record execs: stop punishing your paying customers. This will not stop pirates, but it will make the use of music harder for your paying customers and alienate them in the end.

The incentive to go out and pay 28 USD for an album (the cost of a new release here) that has intentionally destroyed musical content and which doesn't play in all of my players... well, let's say the incentive is getting really thin.

Actually I wonder why I buy records anymore?

Because I'm old? Because it's the right thing to do?

Most of my acquintances and friends of my age don't buy music anymore, they just rip it all off the Internet.

No amount of copy protections is ever going to get them back buying CDs.

But the last remaining buyers like me with over 2000 recordings bought are going to be sorely pissed and slowly turning to something else.

The things that might matter are: cutting down the record price to half and/or stopping producing records for consumption altogether.

But no, this won't happen, so through the downwards spiral we go...

</rant>

When will the RIAA see that they are the root cause of declining sales?

You were right - had to reboot. Then the driver was present. I disabled it and it ripped fine with EAC!!!



Its not EAC, its the mediamax software. Follow the link on this page to instructions on how to disable it and use EAC.

Other related:
I buy Australian CD singles from a seller in Australia of many bands I like becuase he sells them for $1 + shipping. Lately they have had some type of ripping protection on them, where 2 seconds of each song about 20 seconds in cannot be ripped. The rest rips fine. So you are left with a 2 second gap in each song. Does anyone know a way to get around this? Its extremely irritating, especially with CD singles that have little use other than to rip the files to an iPod or to a WAV file to make a mixed CD. I mean, who listens to a 3 song CD? The other alternative is to buy the English version of the single from Amazon at around $12 a single.

I've tried ripping with EAC, iTunes, even WMP Same result on all 3. They all 'crash' at the 2 second spot, skip it, and move on. The CDs play great on regular CD players.

I ripped the CD fine in secure mode without a problem. The copy-protection driver was never installed on my computer and so the CD was never 'protected' for me to begin with. There is nothing done to the CD to make it protected. It just relies on software to stop a user from copying it.

Isn't it just genius that a cd titled "Contraband" is copyprotected?

Buy the CD and take it back, that sends the right message.

I think most stores (in the U.S.) have a return policy on CDs that states that you can only exchange the CD for another copy of the same CD rather than get a refund though. Plus the stores could say that you were warned about the copy protection before purchasing the CD since there is a sticker stating that on the front of the CD.

I hope record labels just see that copy protection is useless and the only way to get people to stop stealing music is to offer it at lower prices or offer more bang for a person's buck. Obviously, copy protection doesn't work as this CD has been on file sharing networks for quite some time so it's doing nothing to thwart copying or illegal downloading.

Some record labels see the light.
scarlet records wrote back within the hour after I complained about a copyprotected cd.



Then he told me how to circumvent the protection.
(the old waterproof pencil trick)

There's hope

I'm glad that some labels are deciding against copy protection.

I just contacted BMG and voiced my displeasure about them including copy protection on their CD releases. Hopefully, my voice will be heard.

I used this page to contact them. If anybody else is interested please contact them. I'm sure if they get enough complaints they'll rethink their strategy.

Just a note, there is no need to switch to burst mode.
Secure Mode in EAC will work fine, all that need be done is properly "disarm" the protection.

Until then the tracks will sound choppy/skip et al.
I know some didn't read the full article so here is an excerpt from the site Teqnilogik previously mentioned:



The piece is quite interesting for those who enjoy the subject Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System

I found this while searching for other's woes with CD-3. Kind of a good read. Especially the last comment.
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog (DMCA, Google, censorware, and an inside view of net-politics)

I can't recall off the top of my head an easier protection (using the word protection loosely) I've ever witnessed.
Veni, Vidi, Vici, tec

I'm not so sure. On my one PC, The DVD reader refused to read the disk if you try to rip it. The other drive (a CDRW) reads it, but the rip had skips and clicks.

I got similar results with Linux. Cdparanoia refuses to read in the DVD drive, and reports errors with the CDRW.

If I then put the disc into my other linux box, Cdparanoia rips it fine, first time.

The annoying thing is is the only reason I did this is so I can play it in the car. The original disk REFUSES to play in my car CD (a VW Gamma OE CD). I haven't tried it in our other car yet.

The RIAA has decling sales?

It seems that may not be correct.

http://www.kensei-news.com/bizdev/publish/...cle_23374.shtml

If this is accurate, well...

-Chris

If I were you, I would write to the company who printed the CD. Tell them you want your money back.

I would say that I can understand the use for copy protection and a companies motivation to use it, but if I can't use it in my car, then that is not what I paid for, hence, I want my money back.

I don't know how accurate that article is, but regardless, I was talking 2000-2003, since 2004 is still in progress, we can't use the data.

I went into my local record store and noticed the VR CD on the "Hot Sellers" rack. Curious, I picked it up to see how easy it would be to tell if it was copy protected. I suspected there would be a logo, or something.

I was wrong. Only the silver sticker on the front mentioned anything about copy protection. And it was disguised. The sticker started out talking about how this was the new CD by VR, blah, blah, woof, woof, and then the text got real small and it mentioned that it was copy protected.

Now here's the scary part -- thinking that maybe I was missing something I took the CD up to the counter and asked the counter-person how I could tell if the disk was protected, if it hadn't had the sticker on it. She replied "Oh, I didn't know we had any copy protected CDs...."

-- Rick

I am on the same boat here in Canada. I like to buy my music and encode it myself. But as copy controll gets harder to deal with and my drives cant get good rips I find myself wondering what I am buying the cd's for if I cant do what I want with them (LAME -alt--preset standard to HDD and foobar play). Guess I will need to invest in a 500$ Plextor drive :/

I hope we all don't lose site of the fact that the reason to buy a CD is to listen to the music.

I've never seen a copy-protection scheme yet that can stop me from playing the CD in an external player, while recording through line-in.

Remember the days when we used to take an analog wave, melted into plastic, and scrape it off with a diamond tipped knife, send it through copper pipes to a rust-coated plastic strip? Most of mine still sound pretty good.

Analog ripping of CD's is still better than that.

The problem is more and more modern cd players rely on cd-rom type drives that don't like to play copy protected cd's.

Ah . . . I didn't realize that. My hardware leans towards the "oldish" side - like me.

once i disabled the device, i was able to rip the CD with any ripper, even Windows Media Player

now i can finally put it on my iPod!

thanks!

to fix the garbling of the mp3's taken off of the velvet revolver contraband cd

you need to remove the hidden system driver SbcpHid that the cd auto installs when first inserted on machines that have autorun enabled.

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.

Open device manager, click view > show hidden devices.

expand non-plug and play drivers, scroll to SbcpHid, right-click and select disable. alternatively you can choose to uninstall it all together. you will need to restart.

to turn off autorun for the future, click start > run

Type regedit
Click OK

Click >
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>
SYSTEM>
CurrentControlSet>
Services>
Cdrom>

Double click “Autorun” the value is set to 1 by default, change it to zero.

Click OK
Now restart, that’s it!

sources
http://brandon.fuller.name/archives/2004/06/10/09.46.44/
http://features.engadget.com/entry/4115667344500767/

Hehe, not sure they can claim this anymore. I read a news story in the last couple weeks that reported a major record label had so far this year increased sales well into double-digit percentage. Unfortunately I didn't make a mental note of the reporting source or the record label. But it was one of the big labels and reported by a reliable news source, not just some rumor off a web page somewhere. Nuts, wish I could remember it...

Or, officially, Microsoft has a program TweakUI for XP only. It's part of their Windows XP Powertoys, go to Powertoys for Windows XP and on the right column there's a list of free, downloadable Powertoys including TweakUI. It will remove autorun. Use TweakUI, go to My Computer, Autoplay, Types, Remove Autoplay from all drives. Easy.

Only for EU, US.
Only Windows XP.
Works for me!
And you can tweak other Windows stuff too.

Is this it?

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/20040903-4156.html

I tried to uninstall the Velvet Revolver SunnComm MediaMax scbh-driver-thing and it doesn't work. You've gotta disable it apparently.

Emailed SunnComm about uninstallation/identification of their "software." We'll see what they say soon.

First Reply Summary: "Our software doesn't interfere with your normal computer operation" and that's it. So I'll keep replying until I get a real answer. They harass me, I harass them. All's fair! [Until they sue me... ]

There are versions for Win9x and Win2000 as well.

Just out of curiousity, I scanned the hidden devices in device manager on my XP box, looking for this driver. I didn't find it (didn't expect to), but I found one called TPkd, from PACE Anti-Piracy, Inc. Anyone know where this comes from, or what it is doing?

Also found a Macrovision driver, Secdrv.sys, but I guess that's part of a DVD player software install.

edit: found another Macrovision driver, BdaC15BA.sys.

What makes me laugh about all this copy protection schemes are that the record companies are prepared to spend serious amounts of cash to make/use these on CD and all they would have to do is lower the prices and the market will really pick up.
I was in my local virgin store one day with my girlfriend and i happen to see they were doing a promo on cd's £6.99 on selected ones. I saw Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden was one, so I checked out the metal section and saw that they were doing this on 10 other albums too. I brought the LOT as I decided it was a fair price for the music thats old. Record companies I feel want to have their cake and eat it

Dok Lorenz