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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=963
A novel approach to music piracy -- make the CD more valuable
By Michael Flaminio, Insanely Great Mac
September 19th 2002
Bon Jovi''s new album contains a new copy protection ploy, an incentive to actually
buy the CD
The drive continues to derail music piracy. The latest attempt comes from Bon Jovi and
his new CD "Bounce." Unlike recent efforts, this anti-piracy method, however, can not
be broken by using a simple magic marker. The group hopes to prevent people from
coping the their CD by actually encourage people to buy the CD.
Wired News reports on the new concept, stating that each CD will ship with a unique
serial key. That serial number can be used online to gain access to special items,
such as unreleased music and priority concert tickets. A Web site offers details that
membership is gained through using the serial key. The Web site states that members
will also get messages from the band and an enrollment to bonjovi.com insider for
special access to the band''s own Web site. For fans, the access to concert tickets
are probably the most attractive aspect. The Web site promises to give members first
crack at tickets, before they go on sale to the public.
In May, Insanely Great Mac reported on a new CD copy protection method that prevented
CDs from playing on computers. The idea is that if a CD couldn''t be used on a
computer, it could be ripped for duplication or file trading. The protection scheme
had the undesirable effect of jamming up CD drives on Mac OS computers. Essentially
the CD contains an unreadable track, which confuses computer CD drives, but doesn''t
effect audio CD players. Within days of the hubbub, a simple magic marker
strategically placed on the CD was found to disable the protection scheme.
Analysis:
Focusing on the topic of copy protection and not Bon Jovi''s music, this is an
interesting twist to the battle of copy protection. As CD prices rise, and the music
industry flexes legal muscle, the stakes of where and how music can be used are ever
rising. We hear rumblings of all kinds of new copy protection schemes, most of which
throw the concept of fair use out the window. I think that this is an interesting
approach to instead put more value on actually buying the CD, rather than restrict the
use of the contents.
The idea does have pitfalls. Wired News discusses the possibility of breaking the
serial key, but is probably unlikely considering what is gained and for what cost.
Also, the concept could be flawed, in that perhaps only the most avid fan would be
interested in the services offered by the serial number membership. These are the same
people who would normally buy the CD regardless if it''s available as a copy.
The music industry should have no problem justifying putting money into such incentive
program. Between legal fees, development of copy protection and their estimates on the
cost to the industry of piracy, if they were to funnel these numbers into such
incentive-based concepts, it could be more effective than any silver bullet
anti-piracy method.
[ Article revisions with corrections and updates are available on the Web site.
Read and post article comments at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=963 ]
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Copyright (c) 2002 Insanely Great Mac. All rights reserved. This article
may not be republished in part or whole without explicit written
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