Yesterday I bought Switchfoot's new album, "Nothing Is Sound." The music is really good like their last album, however, Sony released it with the content protected. This means that it is difficult to get on the computer. I listen to most of my music on the computer, so this is a real headache for me. I don't use iTunes, just Window's Media Player. It would hang when I clicked on Rip.
Coincidently, I read an article on Slashdot about this very album. Tim Foreman from Switchfoot wrote up a detailed forum post apologizing for what Sony did with the album, along with instructions on how to get the music from the CD.
I sent this letter to Sony via their online feedback form:
Dear Sony,
I was extremely disappointed today when I tried to rip my new Switchfoot CD. When I listen to my music, 99% of the time it is on my computer, and for it not to work has really upset me and left me with a bitter feeling towards your label. I read Tim's post as mentioned on Slashdot, and I really appreciate what he as done. However, I will still be attempting to take my CD back to Wal-Mart, and find the dual disk without the copy-protection.
I realize that music copying is a difficult problem, and I don't agree with burning CDs for friends or downloading pirated music. That said though, what you have done with this CD only frustrates legitimate customers, and is hardly a speed bump for those who would copy the music illegally.
In the future, I will be more careful when purchasing music, and I won't accidentally buy one with copy protection like this. I will not let Sony run software on my computer in order for me to listen to music.
Thank You,
Lance Fisher
I doubt I will hear back from them.
10 comments:
yep. nice yeah? i read slashdot too. but even thought the foreman's letter to they're fans tried to correct the problem, why was there a problem in the first place?
just another reason to use itunes(for music purchases). much love brother. STICK IT TO THE MAN!
ive been wanting to listen to the album haha maybee ill illegally download it so i can listen to it on my computer jk :)
aaron
Getting an iPod and buying from iTunes is really sticking it to the man! Oh yeah! Great way to express your individuality too... and Apple DRM is not restrictive at all!
Seriously though, I'd rather buy from www.allofmp3.com
You pay per megabyte and it's DRM free and encoded in a format and compression rate of your choice, like it should be.
thanks for commin by lance, i feel lightened by your presence.
your truly a good man.
aaron
Well, with some hassle, I managed to exchange my CD towards the dual-disk without the copy protection software. I have vowed to not buy DRM CDs ever again. I don't really care if that means not buying any CDs in the future. I hope the recording industry doesn't go that way, but I'm sure they will.
Hey Lance,
I bet in a few years if your write a letter like that and mention circumventing the copy protection, the next day you'd be picked up by a RIAA goon squad in a black van and held indefinately for violations of the Digital Patriotism Homeland Cyber Defense Act. :)
Prizrak, well then. nice sense of humor. yeah. uh-huh.
being that you think apple is the anticrist(which seems right, after reading the post on your site), we're not all standing around waiting in line for steve jobs(or you if you get the urge) to write the next gnostic gospel.
we don't need negative scial commentary from those who live to fight.
itunes suits my needs nicely. but i guess there is only one way for all. yay for Mao!
justin
The Nano is actually kinda nice and not very overpriced. $200 is not bad for such a tiny player with 2 GB of memory and a nice color screen. I would probably get one if I lost my current player right now. I could live without the radio/recording feature and the not being able to play OGG files and stuff, as I pretty much only use my player to listen to my albums encoded in MP3. I would hope that if I get a Nano, I wouldn't have to install any software and be able to use it as a 2 GB storage drive. I heard that the iPod batteries expire after a couple of years and there is no way to replace them yourself, which would be kind of a pain.
So, as you can see, Justin, I don't really think that Steve Jobs in The Antichrist. Although, he is somewhat of an egomaniac, but a lot of other visionaries are too.
okay. cool. nice relaxed conversation.
havnt heard about the battery replacement nightmare. ugh. i havnt bought an ipod yet. dont need one. my backpack with a pile of cd's and my never-gonna-stop-working sony discman is enough for me. i only use itunes for my computer and burning the discs.
justin
Well, Sony has removed Tim's helpful post and recalled the CD. Read about it at The Register. Luckily I ran across another blogger who posted the full text of his post.
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