music - Burning CD's - is it possible to make the CD not rippable by a user
2014-07
contactmatt
Here's the scenario: I have some friends that I'd like to share music with via burning a CD for them. However, I respect the legal laws of the music industry and I do not want them to be able to rip the CD that I give them. I would prefer to give them a CD that they can listen to and decide if they would like to buy it by allowing them not to rip it, but rather only be able to play the CD on their computer or in their car.
Is this possible? If not, are there other ways that you can think of to give my friends music without allowing them to rip it?
Randolf Richardson
It's not possible.
Even if you do manage to find a way to protect the CD (e.g., by including intentional errors and then using an application to check for those errors before playing the content -- this was tried beyond the point of exhaustion in the 1980s with floppy diskettes on the Commodore 64 for the purposes of copy protection, and every one of those methods was defeated in a variety of ways), people can just fire up a free/open-source application called Audacity ( http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) to record whatever music is coming from their speakers.
Notice that Apple's iTunes will play a portion of the songs in their store, but then you have to pay the dollar (less a penny) to get a copy of your own. Apple has taken steps to make sure that music stays on the buyer's computer, but there are a variety of tools to get around even this. Although Apple's efforts appear to have been quite extensive, people still find ways to get around their copy protection.
So, you may wish to include a portion of your songs as a sample, but don't be surprised if your music winds up on some torrents or BeeMP3.com, Baidu.Com's MP3 search, etc. (at the very least it could be a confirmation that your music is good if people actually want to share it).
Dour High Arch
Are you in the United States? Is the music you're burning to CD from another source (like a CD, recording, or performance you didn't create)? Then you're already breaking the law.
If you buy a CD, or download music from the original creator, you do not own the music, only a license to listen to it.
pho3nix
I have a Sony VAIO VGN-FE11S using a Matshita DVD Writable drive. My problem is that a few weeks ago, my drive stopped reading burned DVD's and CD's. It only reads original DVD's or CD's. I haven't installed anything.
Has anyone with the same problem been able to resolve this?
Discinfo summary
DISCINFO VERSION : 1.7.0 BETA.12
- VENDOR : MATSHITA
- MODEL : DVD-RAM UJ-841S
- REVISION : 1.11
- VENDOR SPECIFIC : 601200KME1997131264
- INTERFACE : ATAPI
Troggy
Most likely, the drive is starting to die. It might be time to look into getting a replacement. I've had drives before that have stopped burning, but only read. Others only read certain disks. Others gave read errors randomly.
Can you still burn CD/DVD's?
William Hilsum
I have to deal with this sort of problem quite frequently.
I have not seen this problem on CD or DVD drives that are only used for reading, but when they are used for writing, I seem to see "random" errors from failed writes, down to failed reads after 50-200 writes... It is completely random, but surprisingly low.
I guess that on most of these drives, the laser just doesn't last from long time burning.
FYI, I had to fix recently a Sony that was a similar model to yours. They quoted around £200 for the identical part. If you buy any compatible slim line drive (or sometimes it is cheaper to buy a slimline optical enclosure and rip out the optical drive), you can take out yours and remove all the enclosure (sides, connector at the back and front plate) you can have a replacement for a fraction of the cost.
dlamblin
Some drives are just sensitive to the burn media type. They need either a firmware update, or to be wholly replaced. Alternatively, you need to find the burn media type that is readable in this drive, and use that exclusively. That implies trial and error.