EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

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EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

2006-02-21 02:54:28

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

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Whats New
21-Feb-06

The german magazin c't published an article whether EAC is or is not violating a german law against circumvention of copy protections on audio CDs. Some of the experts they asked had the opinion that the function of retrieving the native TOC is at best working at the limit of legality. Due to that article and to eliminate any possibility of legal problems, I decided to remove that function (although I am pretty sure that it is absolutely legal). I always try to make sure to be fully compliant with german law, even if I would interpret the law absolutely differently. Anyway, there are at least some few bug-fixes in this update, e.g. creating an image having the artist and CD title as filename will now show the file dialog properly when special characters are used. For the next version it is still planned to add test & copy of CD images and for the version after that I will try to implement Unicode support for freedb queries and main window display and edit. I am sorry about all this, but please understand my point of view.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #1 – 2006-02-21 03:59:29

I can't tell if this is good news or bad.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #2 – 2006-02-21 04:05:41

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I can't tell if this is good news or bad.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365926"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Even if it does attract some unwanted attention I don't see this as a huge threat, as long as EAC keeps doing what it does we should all be happy.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #3 – 2006-02-21 04:13:53

Being a non-techie user of this wonderful program, why would I care that I am no longer able to retrieve the native TOC??

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #4 – 2006-02-21 04:35:05

I had understood that the native TOC function was removed a while back... I'm a little confused as to why Andre mentions it in this What's New update...

Anyway, this seems like mostly a bugfix release.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #5 – 2006-02-21 04:36:31

What is TOC anyway? I never used it so I gess I'm ok... as long eac make perfects rips...

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #6 – 2006-02-21 05:36:52

TOC standard for 'Table of Contents'. So what that means is the track listing for the cd as written in the CDDA headers at the start of the disc.
The ability to retrieve this in EAC was necessary on certain copyrighted discs which masked the TOC, such that if you loaded the CD in EAC it would only list the data track. Thus without being able to retrive the native TOC, you can't rip the CD.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #7 – 2006-02-21 05:45:55

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TOC standard for 'Table of Contents'. So what that means is the track listing for the cd as written in the CDDA headers at the start of the disc.
The ability to retrieve this in EAC was necessary on certain copyrighted discs which masked the TOC, such that if you loaded the CD in EAC it would only list the data track. Thus without being able to retrive the native TOC, you can't rip the CD.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365942"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Now, I wouldn't care if it wasn't for that one copyrighted disc I own.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #8 – 2006-02-21 06:45:37

Funny enough ... Plextools Pro (and Pro XL) still allow you to switch your drive to "First Session Only" mode when doing DAE ...

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #9 – 2006-02-21 09:51:40

bad news!
because a lot of my audio cds are copy protected , and i can't rip and listen with my portable audio player without eac

i overwrite my old version , and now i'm not able to find the prebeta 3!

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #10 – 2006-02-21 09:57:24

Is it possible/stable to have multiple versions of EAC running on the same machine?

If so, then it may mean that if the TOC is permanently removed from 0.95 beta 4 and above, then many peeps will run two versions: 0.95 beta 3 for the copy protected ones (that require TOC functionality); and the latest version with the latest bug fixes / new functionality.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #11 – 2006-02-21 10:23:31

I might be wrong here, but I would swear that in some countries keeping a copy of a purchased cd (or ripping it for own usage) is perfectly legal. Why shouldn't someone have the chance to use such a function, considering that they don't break any law? Surely EAC is being used outside Germany as well. Wouldn't he be alright if he used a disclaimer mentioning that such usage of the program in Germany might be violating the law?

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #12 – 2006-02-21 10:31:05

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I might be wrong here, but I would swear that in some countries keeping a copy of a purchased cd (or ripping it for own usage) is perfectly legal.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365964"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

In most countries, this is probably legal... except when the CD is copy-protected. In that case, it's illegal to bypass the copy protection.

This is how I think it is. IANAL, though...

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #13 – 2006-02-21 10:33:01

Guys there are still other options...

1. Download and install the absolutely fantastic AnyDVD which fixes the TOC and other CDDA problems on the fly allowing any program to rip (although EAC seams to bypass AnyDVD and read it's own version of the TOC. So I'd recommend AnyDVD+other ripper)

2. Use dBPoweramp for CDs with corrupt TOC (it has a repair option that you can leave on by default). Downside is that Secure mode is still under development for dbPoweramp so it's very fast burst extraction in the release version. Haven't tried looking at betas.

I have a copy of EAC 0.95 B3 if we are allowed to host it in Rarewares?

Regards,
Mr Liquidizer

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #14 – 2006-02-21 10:49:24

>Some of the experts they asked had the opinion that the function of
>retrieving the native TOC is at best working at the limit of legality

I disagree 100%, stick a bought CD into your boom box and it will read the first session only, that is an audio cd player. If you do the same in software you are reading the audio cd exactly as you should (Philips red book, no where in the red book does it say you must read a 2nd session).

That is why there have been Zero legal threats against cd ripping programs, it would be thrown out of court.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #15 – 2006-02-21 11:12:12

I'm not providing links here....
But Google is your friend.
Search for "eac095pb3.zip"

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #16 – 2006-02-21 11:21:21

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I had understood that the native TOC function was removed a while back... I'm a little confused as to why Andre mentions it in this What's New update...
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365935"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

0.95 prebeta 3 (from 11 may 2003) had the follwing options under "Toc Alterations":

Retrieve Native TOC
Detect TOC Manually
Use First Session Only

The last two was removed with prebeta 4 and now "Retrieve Native TOC" are removed with beta 4. Well, I got a copy of 0.95 prebeta 3 laying around if I should ever need it, so this doesn't affect me much....

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #17 – 2006-02-21 11:29:50

yeah I'm staying with pb3, too

Andre is probably right, EAC looks like a hobby project and the hassle is just not worth it ..
since it's not open source he can't expect help from the FSF or whatever and copyright lawyers are not cheap

any company can turn your life into a legal nightmare at anytime (even if it's totally unjustified).. thankfully our project was big enough and popular to collect a nice 5 digit Euro lump within 3 days to pay a real good German lawyer, and the "enemy side" dropped the hot iron within hours never to be heard of again

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #18 – 2006-02-21 11:47:18

You can keep older versions of the EAC.exe in your EAC directory, and start whichever one you need. I'm keeping the beta 3 one around, just to be safe.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #19 – 2006-02-21 11:58:48

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You can keep older versions of the EAC.exe in your EAC directory, and start whichever one you need. I'm keeping the beta 3 one around, just to be safe.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365976"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks.
Thought I was being ignored what with your post beign the 8th one after mine.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #20 – 2006-02-21 12:00:41

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I'm not providing links here....
But Google is your friend.
Search for "eac095pb3.zip"
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Well, how illegal can it be to link to a particular page on [a href="http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/eac.html]ReallyRareWares[/url]?

Edit: This thread may be interesting for those of you that weren't around when prebeta 4 was released:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....howtopic=16086&

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #21 – 2006-02-21 12:44:53

I'm a bit shocked by this "anticipatory obedience". This is not what i hoped to see.

The article he is referring to has the following wording (translated from german):

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The popular audio-grabber EAC provides an option to detect the 'native TOC' of audio CDs. Many copy-protections are based on a deliberately faked second TOC. With this function, the user asks EAC to read the correct TOC. Legal or illegal?

The questioned attorneys were at variance. Two argued that a copy-protection is effective when the circumvention needs additional tools; EAC would therefore violate the [german] copyright law. The other two [attorneys] questioned that an invalid TOC on the CD is even an effective copy-protection. Dr. Till Jaeger: "The software is simply not falling for a trick." If one would classify fake entries in a TOC as an effective measure, one would have to classify all CD-players as copyright-violating 'devices'.

Also, this one function of EAC doesn't constitute a fundamental part of the features. This is the same reason why CD/DVD drives that ignore all copy protections can freely be sold. The manufacturers are just not allowed to advertise that.

I am disappointed that this already prompted him to remove that harmless, yet sometimes useful feature.

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #22 – 2006-02-21 13:03:27

http://www.mp3talks.com/archive/index.php/t-67.html

I found this thread to be most informative.

But I could have gone here which is not illegal in my country http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/files/eac/eac095pb3.zip. I'm not a Lawyer so don't go if it is in yours :-)

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #23 – 2006-02-21 13:10:26

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I'm a bit shocked by this "anticipatory obedience". This is not what i hoped to see.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=365987"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hm ...

André is at the start of his professional career at the moment and I really don't think that he would take any risk to jeopardize this.

The aforementioned article (I have read it just yesterday) does also state that official court decisions upon copyright issues are often characterized by a lack of knowledge and/or uncertainty (due to vague formulations in the german copyright law) among judges and lawyers. Two lawyers - three opinions ... ;-)

You can be sure that EAC/CDEx/etc. are major thorns up SOme compaNY's arse ... and you can also be sure that these companies - once they decide to file a lawsuit and go to court - will play for keeps (meaning they will bring up the best copyright lawyers one can find) ... as a privateer in that case, all you can do is lose a lot of money because specialized legal cost insurances won't even pay your lawyer in case of clearing copyright questions in court.

From that point, I can perfectly understand why André did remove that feature ... additionally, mentioning EAC's "Retrieve Native TOC" feature in 'ct (THE major german PC magazine) didn't help at all - now everyone reading 'ct (certainly including some music business people that didn't know before) will know that EAC has always been capable of 'circumventing' audio CD protections ... guess how André liked that ...

EAC V0.95 beta 4 released

Reply #24 – 2006-02-21 13:52:31

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You can be sure that EAC/CDEx/etc. are major thorns up SOme compaNY's arse ... and you can also be sure that these companies - once they decide to file a lawsuit and go to court - will play for keeps (meaning they will bring up the best copyright lawyers one can find) ... as a privateer in that case, all you can do is lose a lot of money because specialized legal cost insurances won't even pay your lawyer in case of clearing copyright questions in court.

From that point, I can perfectly understand why André did remove that feature ... additionally, mentioning EAC's "Retrieve Native TOC" feature in 'ct (THE major german PC magazine) didn't help at all - now everyone reading 'ct (certainly including some music business people that didn't know before) will know that EAC has always been capable of 'circumventing' audio CD protections ... guess how André liked that ...
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Don't get my wrong, i understood it when he removed the "Detect TOC Manually" function in 0.95 pb4, because that was a more advanced function targeted more at copy protection. But this "Retrieve native TOC" is something different. The german jurisdiction is, like you said, in no way clear on this issue, and the c't article (not 'ct BTW ) leads me to believe that the music industry won't try anything. If they would sue André and lose, it would be a great image loss for them.

Also, i don't think a court case would be a problem for André. He could simply ask for donations to finance a good lawyer, and i'm sure the support would be overwhelming. It has been done before in Germany, maybe you remember the [a href="http://aktuell.de.selfhtml.org/talk/rechtundlinks.htm]SelfHTML case[/url] (german, babelfished: english). They were sued over a disputable copyright violation and got 30,000 euros donation money from loyal supporters to go to court. They used a bit more than 2000 Euros for their lawyer and won the case. The rest of the money was either refunded to the donators or used for other things, when the donator agreed.

I think it is the wrong signal of André to back down before anything even happened. People seem to spinelessly agree with anything the major labels come up with, even by anticipatory obedience. That's why i'm disappointed.

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