Wondering what everyone thinks about cracking and removing CD protections. Including Audio, and Safedisc, Armadillo, etc.
Do you think it is a good thing, or a miss-use of programming knowledge?

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</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

Good question, I am some where in the middle. If it is for personal genuine backup purposes then I agree and if it is for illegal distribution for making money or for fun then I disagree.

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The Supreme Court came down on the side of consumers when this discussion first came about when VHS players first came out.

The "Fair Use" principle that has become the backbone of a lot of open licenses like Creative Commons, etc.

We consumers have a legal right to keep a backup of stuff we buy.

Unfortunately, in this era of broadband, peer-to-peer, and cavernous hard drives, its soooooooooo much easier to abuse these tools.

Drawing an analogy with guns - guns do not kill people, people kill people.


But then again, the current tools available for cracking is like the gun equivalent of a Doom BFG (Big F**ing Gun)!!!!

Attached Images

bfg-small.jpg (14.5 KB, 944 views)

I think the companies are their own worst enemies in this whole thing, personally.

'Tis true - just witness what happened to Sony when they installed spyware to enforce DRM.

Not only was it highly suspect, the whole thing was ineffective, and worse, actually exposed your computer!!!

The marketing retard who came up with this idea should be fired!!!

I agree javester!!
cd protection hardly ever works for long.. it's just another (hopeful) challenge for programmers like myself. Mind you i am the type who buys software to see if i can crack it. I don't share if i am successful or not, or what i did. I'm not out to sink any companies, just for knowledge and understanding

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</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

dear sir,
How can i copy a cd which is copy protected ?

Pls reply.
Shimji

Is it wrong to download free mp3 tracks from peer to peer file sharing sites if you already own a copy of the track? The reason I ask, Well
with a software program like cdex you can convert all your cds to mp3 but its a lot of hassle to go through them all and select different tracks from various cds.It is much quicker to download the tracks in mp3 format and burn them to disc. Well what do you think? In my mind then end result is the same.

the law in my neck of the woods allows for a "backup" of any media you own, the way you attain it, store it and format it is in, is all open to any interpretation.

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</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

Yes William I nowhere you are coming from, But it would still be interesting to see this argument played out in a law Court "Only I would rather not be the one to test it".
Same thing with Oem versions of Microsoft operating systems.I was told if you just replace the memory sticks in a computer you can legally use oem versions of windows something to do with the way the agreement is worded.
Anyway back to your original post. Keep on cracking you've got my vote