ContentAs noted by Slashdot, CNET is reporting an interesting side-effect regarding certain copy protected CDs. This particular copy protection scheme works by placing both the normal audio files as well as digitally encoded songs on the same disc. When placed in a standard CD player, the regular audio files are read, and the music plays like any other CD. However, when placed in a Windows PC, the digitally encoded files are revealed instead of the audio files because the computer recognizes the disc as a data CD-ROM rather than an audio CD. Normally, software used to rip CDs to MP3 format works by encoding each song from the original CD audio tracks. However, this copy protection scheme is intended to fool the computer into finding only the pre-encoded digital tracks. And as those digital tracks are protected by Digital Rights Management algorithms, the end-user is ostensibly unable to make their own digital copy. Not only has this approach been much maligned in the press, but it is also amusingly easy to bypass.
And now, in a humorous twist, the publishers and arists are negotiating with the records labels claiming that the “double-session” CDs are entitled to double royalties, as each song appears twice in different formats. Of course, two times one pittance is still just a pittance for the artists.