"Don't buy copy protected audio CDs"
Reply #74 – 2004-10-27 17:59:33
Where did you get that information ? That makes the whole issue less precise. Isn't the copy protection working when it causes interpolation in the standalone CD player's dig out ? If EAC performs a bit error correction, is it CDS or just some scratches (or both) ? This is just logical ... if your PC does recognise the disc (assuming, you do not use any altered file system driver or crack like AnyDVD), you can read it and the copy protection (which is aimed at preventing the CD from being recognised in an optical disc drive), in that case, does not work and thus isn't present in a legal sense ... therefore, you are moving into the area of the copyright law which (still) grants several "private copies". The revised EU copyright law isn't that precise at all ... there are cases that are clear IMO (e.g. cracking a Video DVD's protection with the appropriate software or using burning applications that use non-standard methods for defeating game protections) but there are cases that are unclear as well. As an example stands EAC: as a preventive move, André Wiethoff (EAC coder) removed the "Detect TOC manually" function from EAC just to be sure his app stays legal (and to prevent a potential time-consuming fight against a bunch of greedy Sony/BMG lawyers). Since he lives in Germany and everybody does know his adress, he'd be f***ed really fast if the s**t would hit the fan. But, regarding the standalone CD player (remember - copy protections are especially developed to be non-existant on standalones), why should it be illegal to play back the CD and record (assuming the SCMS bit is not set) it to a digital recording device like DAT, MD, CD-R standalone or a PC being configured like a harddisk recorder (studios do that all the time ...) It's all about what judges will conclude in the future, I guess ...