The moronic and behind the times record industry has made some of their best selling artists have copy protection on their CDs. It only happens on Windows machines and here's what happens: if you have auto run on enabled and you put the copy protected CD into your CD drive it puts up some type of license agreement. If you accept this license agreement then a little piece of turd software is loaded onto your system and does all sorts of digital signature stuff. Once this occurs you cannot rip the songs from your CD at all but can only use the WMA files on the CD, which are not the top quality files.
So, an iPod user like me cannot load the files on my iPod. I also like to rip all the Switchfoot and U2 into Apple Lossless format. This allows me to be able to make copies of CDs or mix CDs that I can play on my CD player in the car or take it to work. This whole thing really ticks off consumers who legally buy the CDs and just want to enjoy them in there own way.
Now that our Switchfoot guys are considered a big player, with the release of Nothing Is Sound
I'm hopeful that their record company, Columbia Records will accept that Tim Foreman has done the right thing for the fans. They may even have a legal case against Tim but he's not written anything that hasn't been written before. Of course, with the latest news that Nothing Is Sound is debuting at number 3, the record company might be a bit more foregiving. I definitely don't want any trouble for the band, especially Tim. He's a guy I know a little bit and consider him a friend. Heck, we even share the same birthday. A great musician, more than anything, he's a great man who is only trying to do the right thing by their fans. This is a band that truly gets it so please support them, especially during the rough times.
Technocrati Tags: switchfoot
Message from Tim Foreman of Switchfoot relating to stupid copy protection:
Hello friends,
my heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing. Many PC users have posted problems that they have had importing the new songs (regular disc only, not the dual disc) into programs such as Itunes. Let me first say that as a musician AND as a music fan, I agree with the frustration that has been expressed. We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy that is being implemented by most major labels, including Sony (ours), and immediately looked into all of our options for removing this from our new album. Unfortunately, this is the new policy for all new major releases from these record companies. It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat, and tears over the past 2 years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology. It is also unfortunate when bands such as ourselves, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc... (just a few of the new releases with copy protection) are the target of this criticism, when there is no possible way to avoid this new industry policy.
For mac users these songs should import seamlessly. We are told that itunes is coming out with a new version for PC users in early November that will be compatible with all of these new CD's but in the meantime it's frustrating for all of us. That said, there are a number of solutions (as is always the case with these types of things) for importing the CD into your itunes and ipod. We have compiled some of the easier ways below. I feel like as a band and as listeners, we've all been through a lot together over the past ten years, and we refuse to allow corporate policy to taint the family we've developed together. We deeply regret that there exists the need for any of our listeners to spend more than 30 seconds importing our music, but we're asking as friends and partners in this journey together to spend the extra 10 minutes that it takes to import these songs, which we think you'll agree to be our finest collection of songs yet. As a band, we've always been known for having the best fans in the world and I know that will continue for years to come. A month from now, I hope to be singing these songs together at a show, and the extra time spent importing the music will perhaps be forgotten, or at least forgiven. Thank you for your understanding and the continued kindness that you have always shown for five dreamers from San Diego, we love you guys,
-tim foreman
A) If you're a mac user, or you have access to a mac, or you purchased the dual disc, you should have no problems... simply import the songs the same way as you always do.
B) If you're a PC user, and you haven't yet tried to import the the disk yet, download and install a free program called CDEX from http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/downloads.php. Now hold down the shift button while inserting the switchfoot CD (this disables the auto-run feature on the CD). Make sure that you hold it down until you are sure that nothing has run (maybe 60 seconds). Once the CD is loaded without auto-running it's software, open the CDEX program, and select tracks 1-12 (Lonely Nation-Daisy), excluding data tracks 13 and 14. THen select the top icon on the right side of the program "Extract CD tracks to WAV files". THis will extract them to your mymusic folder. Open iTunes and drag the .wav files you created into your itunes library, and you're done, and free to convert the songs into mp3, or whatever format you wish. (If you've already tried to import another copy protected CD like Foo Fighters, etc..., you may already have the protection software installed on your computer, and should go to plan C.
C) If you're a PC user, and you've already tried to import the the disk and accepted the auto-run installation, or don't mind accepting the auto-run installation, place the CD into your computer and allow the Sony BM audio player on the CD to automatically start. If the player software does not automatically start, open your Windows Explorer. Locate and select the drive letter for your CD drive. On the disc you will find either a file named LaunchCD.exe or Autorun.exe. Double-click this file to manually start the player.
Once the Sony BMG player application has been launched and the End User License Agreement has been accepted, you can click the Copy Songs button on the top menu.
Follow the instructions to copy the secure Windows Media Files (WMA) to your PC. Make a note of where you are copying the songs to, you will need to get to these secure Windows Media Files in the next steps.
Once the WMA files are on your PC you can open and listen to the songs with Windows Media Player 9.0 or higher (or another fully compatible player that can playback secure WMA files, such as MusicMatch, RealPlayer, and Winamp by dragging them from wherever you saved them into Windows media player. Once they are in the Windows media player playlist you can burn the songs to a standard Audio CD by right clicking on the songs and selecting "add songs to burn list." You can then burn the songs to a standard Audio CD. (Please note that in order to burn the files, you will need to upgrade to, or already have, Windows Media Player 9 or 10, which can be downloaded for free at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.aspx )
Once the standard Audio CD has been created, place this copied CD back into your computer and open iTunes. iTunes can now rip the songs as you would any normal audio CD.
UPDATE: This web site is not owned, operated or endorsed by Switchfoot.
Posted by Tim at September 21, 2005 09:58 PMThis DRM prevents piracy stuff is sheer hypocrisy!
SONY makes cassette recorders, VCRs and CD burners. Their new 16X Dual/Layer DVD burner is made to copy Hollywood films using 8.5 GB disks and the right software. Blank SONY media is available at most retail stores.
Musicians do not share in these hardware sales profits. A record company is ripping off their own stable of artists by selling gear to the pirates as well. This smells like a breech of contract to me. How much longer are you guys gonna tolerate this corporate crime? A classs action lawsuit is overdue.
SONY hardware can be used to rob artists on other labels too. The RIAA will bore us to tears, with complaints about kids downloading music. Brainless politicians won't dare ask fools, why they're ruining their own industry. It's time that artists do...
Posted by: cousinkix1953 at September 30, 2005 01:18 AMthis didn't work for me. it says that is is unburnable after i copied them onto my hard drive. help? thefeltons5@yahoo.com
Posted by: at October 3, 2005 09:52 AMThe CD was able to save to my Windows Media Player, however, it will not recognize a blank CD, therefore I'm unable to burn a copy and then have it loaded to my iTunes. This is stupid. Why is the album available to purchase on iTunes YET you CAN'T download it to iTunes - the consumer must pay twice, I don't think so. It will be a VERY VERY VERY long time before I buy a CD when I can just download the song and I will NEVER buy a CD that has this copyright protection.
Posted by: California at October 5, 2005 04:32 PMI had the same problem as cousinkix1953. It simply refused to burn them even htough I followed the intructions exactly. I dont know if you were able to send more info to cousinkix1953, but if you could, i would really appreciate it.
Posted by: what? at October 9, 2005 01:13 PMbasically, IT WON'T WORK. they should give you a disclaimer about CEDEX before freaking loading the CD so you KNOW how to block this ish. I can't get it on my cd, and that's really depressing. it's protected against both burning and importing.....so obviously option C is IMPOSSIBLE! OMGOSH stupid heads.......if you do buy it from ITUNES will it actually go into your library, or will that crap be the same copyrighted ish I already own? man..I love the CD...but let's get real guys. idiot sony.
Posted by: allie at October 18, 2005 08:22 PMI copied the cd to my computer and was disappointed that I could not listen to it in winamp. Now when i try to burn a copy of the disk, even from the original, it doesn't give me the "burn disk" option and i've only ever made the one copy! I thought we got three copies withe purchase of the cd. If I'm missing something obvious please let me know! (p.s. down with sony)
Posted by: Not_a_happy_camper at October 21, 2005 05:54 AMThis DRM stuff deploys hacker technology to a PC - it hijacks the OS and breaks the machine. All without notifying the customer.
This is a severe trust issue.
There are other opportunities for young powerful musicians. Consult your heart and choose. Let go of the business you guys got right now because by willingly participating in the problem, you BECOME the problem.
Besta luck.
Posted by: Wyre at November 2, 2005 02:03 PMTim, if you really want to do right by your fans, you would alert potential buyers to the threat they are unknowingly purchasing.
There isn't a single statement on your band's website (which I assume is controled by Sony), regarding any of this.
At the end of the day, anyone can release a statement, only someone true to his heart takes action. The question is which are you?
Posted by: sacredheart at November 14, 2005 11:43 AMGet it on iTunes. At least they don't send you junk.
Posted by: Luke at December 2, 2005 01:10 PMso i got the dualdisc for christmas, but i cant listen to it at all, since the only cd player i have is on my laptop... i dont get it... i thought that if i got the dualdisc, then i should be able to load it into my itunes and put it on my ipod? >_< im so confused... how am i supposed to listen to the cd now? stupid sony!!!
Posted by: Buttrflykis31 at December 25, 2005 10:49 PMThanks for taking time to do that Tim!
Posted by: Quest of Many Trails at December 28, 2005 10:31 AMYes, this is a bunch of _hit!
I downloaded a removal tool from Sony and now it knocked out my DVD copy program. Thanks to the HOGS at the record companies. It is things like this that will keep me from buying any new CD's. The real people to suffer, once again, the artists!
Posted by: KATmanDO at January 12, 2006 02:29 PMWhen I go to the PC website for the cd help, it says, "MySQL Has Reported Errors
Error Number: 2003
Error Information:
Can't connect to MySQL server on 'mysql.sourceforge.net' (111)
TwkDDb Version 0.3a "
What does that mean?
I've Just finished, in the past few weeks, downloading X&Y, Parachutes and A Rush of Blood To The Head all by Cold Play to my Ipod and did not experience the same difficulties as I have with Nothing Is Sound. So don't paint others with such a broad brush guys. Watch who and what you are yoked to with better judgement. Who's in charge of (owns) your creative talent SONY or JESUS? I don't have time to sit at my computer to listen to your album and I don't have a CD player in my car. I use an Ipod to listen. So I can't.
Posted by: Jeremy Knight at January 28, 2006 09:19 PMI have been trying the URL http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
for several weeks now, but it still says the same thing-MySQL Has Reported Errors
Error Number: 2003
Error Information:
Can't connect to MySQL server on 'mysql.sourceforge.net' (111)
TwkDDb Version 0.3a
What do I do now?
Posted by: Nathan at February 6, 2006 07:00 PMI tried it the http://www.download.com/CDex/3000-2140_4-10226370.html
link and downloaded the CDex program. and I can put the "songs" onto the itunes. But when I listen to it, it sounds like a broken record. Did I not do it right? I installed CDex. I inserted the "Nothing is Sound" cd, and clicked the "Extract CD track(s) to WAV file(s)" button. I opened the folder which contained the songs in my "My Music" folder. The song doesn't sound right. It repeats every second worth of the song several times.
Uh...I didn't get an email response to my comment above...
"I tried it the http://www.download.com/CDex/3000-2140_4-10226370.html
link and downloaded the CDex program. and I can put the "songs" onto the itunes. But when I listen to it, it sounds like a broken record. Did I not do it right? I installed CDex. I inserted the "Nothing is Sound" cd, and clicked the "Extract CD track(s) to WAV file(s)" button. I opened the folder which contained the songs in my "My Music" folder. The song doesn't sound right. It repeats every second worth of the song several times. "
