Copyright Protected CDs

Yes it's the old issue, can you play the CD you just bought on your pc/mac, or your in-car, or your walkman? Will you be able to play it at all? Will you be able to take it back if you can't? What about if you can play it, [at least on one of your appliances], but the person you bought it as a gift for, can't? Will they be able to take it back? Etc, etc. ad infinitum. Ive been previewing a few discs recently, and without exception, all the major release discs won't work on the pc media player. This is the standard Windows Media Player. Occasionally one will play on a winamp type player, but not the media player. Most will play on the walkman, but not all. It's a lamentable track record isn't it? For all but the avid fan, it's very off-putting to say the least.

Some of the smaller labels haven't got round to it yet, so their stuff still plays, either media player or winamp type player, or walkman. They sound great, good groups, great albums, and I've enjoyed them alot. I will obviously have to buy smaller label CD's. They seem to be more reliable to actually do what it says on the tin.

The history of this situation is well documented on the web. It's clear when you check out some of the news items that there was more of a fuss two years ago than there is now. The subject has been allowed to grow cold, so that the big companies can get their way in the courts and the little people like you and me are still in the dark about the legal aspect. I remember hearing in the early days that there was even an issue with Phillips over whether it was legal at all to manufacture the compact disc format without it being cross platform friendly, which apparently was the whole point in the first place. [IE data or audio, totally cross platform format]. Now you just pay your money, take your choice. It reminds me of the coconut shy thats fixed, so you can never knock the bloody coconuts off. New laws seem to be applying, like if you pay for a CD, then it's your risk/responsibility to know what to play it on. They'll be making us take a CD playing proficiency test next.

If record companies, the big ones that are left, are to keep us the general public interested in their wares, then they should buck up, and start investing. In technology if necessary, but certainly in the grass roots of the business like the retailers, to make their job easier to sell us CDs. [This is putting aside the issue of lack of enough new talent]. As I read in one article: 'No wonder p2p is catching on so much!'

Here's a few bits of background if you're interested:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/32636.html.../
http://www.publicknowledge.org/text-only/issues/copy-protected-cds.html.../
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-272784.html?legacy=cnet.../
http://www.itworld.com/Man/2683/020619cdcopy/.../
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/25274.html.../