For several weeks, news that record companies have quietly been selling copy-protected compact discs in stores has been filtering around the Net. Although nobody has yet produced a verified copy of a CD loaded with this technology, developed by copy-protection giant Macrovision, it has produced a wave of "sightings" that have swept even to places as prominent as Amazon.com's consumer reviews.
Accusations have been flying in email, mailing lists and Web sites from people who claimed to find tainted CDs, ranging from 'N Sync singles to the latest works by the Dave Matthews Band. For the last several days, Amazon's lead consumer review on the page advertising the soundtrack to the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" has been headlined "Warning, Warning, Warning".
"DO NOT BUY THIS CD if you are going to copy it to your computer," wrote James Dunn from Mercer Island, Washington. "It contains the music distortion scheme from Macrovision...What a horrible thing to do to such beautiful music."
There's only one problem: The CD in question does not appear to have any copy-protection technology installed, according to tests which were able to turn songs on the CD into the MP3 format without trouble.
Even as Macrovision claims success in its efforts to slip copy-protected CDs past unsuspecting music buyers, the effort is raising new doubts about the viability of products that take away consumers' ability to copy songs. Beyond ratcheting up consumer fears of purchasing distorted CDs, hackers have targeted the effort as a test of their prowess, with some already claiming success even before they've had the opportunity to test out their techniques on an actual copy-protected CD.
"I think it's a dangerous dance for the labels," said Phil Leigh, a music-retailing analyst for brokerage house Raymond James. "Consumers have long considered it their God-given right to copy (music) for personal use once they've paid for it."
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