The Dutch sister organisation of the RIAA (the NVPI) has posted on their website a few days ago that the last record company has ceased copy protecting their CD’s against digital copies. Which means that currently no record company is using copy protections on their new releases. According to the NVPI this information was disclosed by the international magazine ‘Billboard’. In the article it’s also mentioned that Macrovision has ceased development of their copy protection system TotalPlay (previously known as Cactus Data Shield).
According to Billboard magazine the reason the companies are no longer using copy protections because the costs of the technology don’t weight up against the results, the companies also fear problems with the playback of the CD’s in computers.
Mind you, don’t mix up CD copy protections with the protections attached to digital music files (DRM – Digital Rights Management), these are still alive and kicking.
Nah, if they start reading reactions of our readers they could have known this for a long time. All we can say right now is: ‘told you so!’
5 Comments
There are so many CDs I have refused to buy just because of copy protection - not because I couldn't circumvent the copy protection if I wanted to, but because I would then have to pay for the privilege of doing something that is just as illegal as stealing the CD from the shop (according to current Danish law). I listen to ripped music from my CDs far more than I listen to the actual CDs themselves - it's far more convenient to have to tracks on the PC and in my mp3 player. But that's illegal for copy-protected CDs where I live. 
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