Why don't CDs in the US have copy protection?

June 12, 2004 5:42 PM

Why don't CDs in the US have copy protection? [mi]

Over at BoingBoing, there's a post about copy protection on the new Beastie Boys disc. An update to the post notes that discs sold in the US and UK do not have copy protection, but discs everywhere else do. I've seen this before - the CDs will be copy protected in Europe, maybe even Canada, but won't have any DRM in the US. Of course, there are some DRM'd discs in the US, but it seems like the majority of them are outside of the states. Why?

posted by punishinglemur to Shopping (8 answers total)

I wonder if it has to do with most of the anti-DRM folks being in those two areas? Maybe they're trying not to stir the pot too much.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 5:56 PM on June 12, 2004

I wonder if it has to do with most of the anti-DRM folks being in those two areas? Maybe they're trying not to stir the pot too much.

You can read more about these "anti-DRM" folks in this brief discription of corrupted audio discs. The simple fact is it's not people who are necessarily concerned about their fair use, but there are actual problems with the CDs.

Copy protection schemes include:

- reduce the scratch-resistance of the disc, making its average life-span shorter
- make the quality of the sound degrade quicker as the disc gets older
- can cause early failure for older CD players

These schemes may make the CD you buy not play on any of the following:

- car CD players
- game consoles (PlayStation 2, X-BOX, etc)

- DVD players
- portable CD players
- digital home cinema systems
- even some 'normal' CD players

posted by sequential at 6:19 PM on June 12, 2004

Assuming by CDs you mean audio CDs, don't be misled. I haven't encountered many copy-protected CDs here in europe. There's the few CDs that have made the headlines by being DRMed (not that I've ever listened to any of those, luckily none of them where to my taste musicly), but there's not many of them out there.
posted by fvw at 6:41 PM on June 12, 2004

fvw - thats certainly not true in Denmark. The last five cd's i've bought were copy protected. I think here it's the rule not the exception - and i'm so tired of using kazaa to download music i've already bought and paid.

I never knew it was any different elsewere.
posted by FidelDonson at 1:15 AM on June 13, 2004

Really? Owch. I'm in the netherlands by the way.
posted by fvw at 5:56 AM on June 13, 2004

The new PJ Harvey disc in the States has a great big honkin' FBI warning on the back. something about "unauthorized copying." I certainly won't be copying that. Not in any unauthorized way, that is.
posted by grimley at 9:43 AM on June 13, 2004

Reasons for not "copy protecting" audio cd's, which an above poster mentions is more accurately pushing the standard of the cd.

-Liability -- that cd I just bought won't play.
-Futility -- the hackers will instantly get around it anyway.

It also might be something to do with the argument that it interferes with "fair use", but that is such a nebulous concept I'm more inclined to believe one of the above two.
posted by rudyfink at 6:01 PM on June 13, 2004

It also might be something to do with the argument that it interferes with "fair use",

I doubt that...content producers are under no legal obligation to make their content easy to copy, even for people who are seeking to make perfectly legitimate fair use of the content.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:25 AM on June 14, 2004