Corrupt CD Reports

From Isaac
UMG To Release Copy-Protected CD
By Ed Christman, N.Y.
November 16, 2001
Making good on Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s vow that Universal Music Group would deliver a copy-protected CD by year's end, Island Def Jam's soundtrack "More Music From Fast & Furious" will feature the technology when it is released Dec. 18.

Retailers hail the move, even though the encrypted title likely won't play on 10%-15% of the CD players currently on the market, or on the CD-ROM drives in Apple computers. Customers with those players will have to buy the title on cassette or do without it.

CD burning is "a huge problem," notes Sandy Bean, VP of advertising at Harmony House in Troy, Mich. "It makes you feel good that one of the major record companies is trying to do something about it. We are talking about the future of the whole music industry." (Ed. Note: For the historically impaired, record executives also said the same thing in the 1970's when people could begin to make their own tapes.)

Publication:Billboard Bulletin
Source:PRINT

From Luke O'Dell, batch # 314 586 6312 05%
Playing: It plays just fine in all my players but not in my computer. In my PC the disc reads as a data cd and has a player called CactusPJ that allows you to play the music. I cannot play the cd as a normal audio cd.
Copying: Normal ripping tools are useless. I tried the replacement CDFS.VXD on a Win98 machine but it did not work. I was able to rip the audio tracks successfully using the program Total Recorder, available at www.highcriteria.com. Using this I am able to get a perfect digital copy with no degredation. The only drawback is that it can only be done at 1x speed. Everyone should try this program and support the company by purchasing it. Rip the cd then return it. Send the record companies a message.

From Scott Bell, batch # unknown
Playing: Tried it with my car stereo (a pretty run of the mill cd player) and nada. I returned it after showing the clerk the text on the back that says you may get a refund if you have playback problems. The whole situation pissed me off so much I went to Best Buy, bought 4 copies of the same cd, opened them, then returned them.
Copying: Don't know.

From Doug, batch # 314 586 6312 05%
Playing: This disc is protected by Cactus Data Shield so it cannot be play with the media player that came along with Windows ME or with Winamp v. 2.76 using Smart and Friendly SAF-4424A CD-RW.
Copying: Used another computer (with Windows ME) with a PlexWriter 24/10/40A (TLA# 0101) with firmware revision 1.02 and CloneCD v.3341.
Here is my CloneCD log file:
I 7:45:45 PM CloneCD Version 3.3.4.1 started!
I 7:45:46 PM ElbyCDIO Driver 3.3.1.1
I 7:45:46 PM ElbyCDIO.dll 3.3.4.1
I 7:45:46 PM CCDDriver.dll 3.3.4.1
I 7:45:46 PM ElbyECC.dll 3.1.0.0
I 7:45:46 PM Searching for SCSI/ATAPI devices...
I 7:45:46 PM Device Scan found 1 CD-ROMs and 1 CD-Writers!
I 7:45:46 PM Registered to: Doug
I 7:47:14 PM Starting copy from PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W2410A to F:\CloneCD Images\CDS.ccd
I 7:47:14 PM Read SubChannel Data from Data Tracks: Yes
I 7:47:14 PM Read SubChannel Data from Audio Tracks: Yes
I 7:47:14 PM Fast Error Skip: Yes
I 7:47:14 PM Don't report read errors: No
I 7:47:14 PM Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner: No
I 7:47:14 PM CD contains CD-Text: No
I 7:47:14 PM Reading Track 1... (Blocks 0-18651)
I 7:47:17 PM ISRC USIR20110013
I 7:47:17 PM Catalog Number 0731458663126
I 7:47:52 PM INDEX 0 Track 2 LBA 18569!
I 7:47:52 PM Reading Track 2... (Blocks 18651-33784)
I 7:47:52 PM ISRC USIR20110241
I 7:48:23 PM Reading Track 3... (Blocks 33784-46991)
I 7:48:23 PM ISRC USIR20110243
I 7:48:51 PM Reading Track 4... (Blocks 46991-54899)
I 7:48:53 PM ISRC USUMG0110002
I 7:49:11 PM Reading Track 5... (Blocks 54899-70536)
I 7:49:11 PM ISRC USIR20110437
I 7:49:40 PM Reading Track 6... (Blocks 70536-85109)
I 7:49:40 PM ISRC NLA320119582
I 7:50:05 PM Reading Track 7... (Blocks 85109-104241)
I 7:50:06 PM ISRC GBF080000309
I 7:50:44 PM Reading Track 8... (Blocks 104241-121499)
I 7:51:17 PM Reading Track 9... (Blocks 121499-136411)
I 7:51:17 PM ISRC USUMG0110003
I 7:51:44 PM Reading Track 10... (Blocks 136411-155411)
I 7:51:45 PM ISRC USIR20110005
I 7:52:24 PM Reading Track 11... (Blocks 155411-171754)
I 7:52:24 PM ISRC USIR20180581
I 7:52:52 PM Reading Track 12... (Blocks 171754-185501)
I 7:52:53 PM ISRC USDJ20111016
I 7:53:17 PM Reading Track 13... (Blocks 185501-200786)
I 7:53:17 PM ISRC USUL19900336
I 7:53:44 PM INDEX 0 Track 14 LBA 200644!
I 7:53:44 PM Reading Track 14... (Blocks 200786-230466)
I 7:53:45 PM ISRC USUMG0110004
I 7:54:38 PM Duration of operation: 00:07:23
I 7:54:39 PM Reading Track 15... (Blocks 241866-332850)
I 7:57:10 PM Duration of operation: 00:02:31
I 7:57:10 PM Reading finished!

I think there is some subchannel data because my CloneCD .sub file was 29MB.

Does the copy work? Yes of course because it can be played in my CD player that is connected to my stereo system. The copy can also be played with Windows Media player (unlike the original disc, can anybody else confirm this?).

From Dan Smith, batch # 314 586 6312 05%
Playing: Will not play on my Macintosh even though I have a copy of Virtual PC, which meets UMG's stated system requirements. The Mac itself will not mount the CD, which makes it impossible for Virtual PC to download and run the player program.
Copying: Will not copy on my Teac CD-RW22 home audio CD recorder. Gives error message, "CAN'T COPY, SCMS ERROR." Note that under the (United States) Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, this is an AUTHORIZED copy. The AHRA allows copying onto special "Music CD-R" media whose price includes a payment to a royalty fund administered by the Library of Congress.

From Dan Smith, batch # 314 586 6312C 03%
Copying: My Teac Home Audio CD recorder would not make a copy of 314 586 6312 05%, giving a "CANT COPY, SCMS ERR" message.
I emailed umg@umusic.com complaining. No reply.
I sent a letter complaining about this to:
Doug Morris, CEO
Universal Music (Headquarters)
2220 Colorado Avenue C/A
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Shortly thereafter, I received an email from support@musichelponline.com saying, in part, "You have pointed out that you ran into a problem making a copy on your TEAC CD recorder.... Because this technology is so new, we are still evaluating and learning about itsviability. In case there was a technical problem with your copy, we will be sending you via United States mail another copy of "More Fast and Furious." If you run into a problem with this new copy, please contact us and we will be glad to arrange a full refund."

The second copy arrived, and, as noted above, has a different batch number. My Teac makes a high-speed digital dub of it with no problems. The dub, of course, cannot itself be copied, but, interestingly, plays in my Mac with no problems, and iTunes can import the tracks and convert them to .mp3

From Cat, batch # n/a
Reprinted from an anonymous web site, pointed out by Cat
"I recently purchased the More Fast & Furious CD. It appears that the copy protection consists of corrupting the directory or some other necessary fotmatting so that computers cannot read the audio partition of the disc. There is a separate partition that when mounted on a PC gives access to a player application that seems to play the CD. This is where they screw up."

"When mounted in a Mac, the hidden directory on the partition shows up by using Norton Disk Doctor's Get More Info menu command. The directory has the full CD encoded in MP3 at 160 bit rate. Apparently, this is what the PC player accesses. These CD's should be called copy friendly! They are aleady encoded for you!"

From Owen, batch # n/a
Something we ran into when we bought ¤ More Music from The Fast and The Furious: Soundtrack (Universal) . The CD is marked with a disclaimer that states the disc might not work in some home audio equipment, and some computer equipment.It does state that it should work in computers running windows. It does not work in my computer though. I'm extremely mad about this, but after I figure a way to rip this (or minidisc)it's a way to vent my anger .I rip it, and I return it. The disclaimer states that I should return it if it doesn't play in my equipment that I own. Before I couldn't return a CD unless I exchanged it for the same CD. Thanks, RIAA

From Kevin, batch # 314 586 6312 05%
Playing: This disc plays fine in every standard CD and DVD player I've been able to get my hands on, including car decks. The only problems I had were playing Track 1 on computers, Playstation 2 and Xbox. The disc would immediately skip to track 2.
Copying: EZ CD Creator could rip all tracks except the first one. The first track appears to have a TOC entry that fools the computer into thinking that the first track is zero length. Exact Audio Copy was able to rip all tracks successfully.

Sony MXD-D3 could only copy 10 seconds of each track until SCMS kicked in and disallowed further copying. This is a violation of the Home Recording Act.

From Chris Gudith in Ottumwa, Iowa, batch # they're all corrupt
Copying: I am using Music match Jukebox. will not copy or play unless you used the supplied player.

From Pamela T, Deptford, NJ
Comes with anti-PC warning. Copying: I travel quite a bit for work, and I always bring my personal lap top with me. I hate bringing a ton of cd's with me, so when I bought F and F, I was really hoping that I would not have a problem copying it to my hard drive. The only problem that I encountered was that it would not copy track 1. Just for giggles I tried to rip to a blank cd. Same problem, but no others. I gave the copy to my husband for the car. All I used was standard windows media player for Windows XP Home Edition. I'm not going to return the cd, although maybe I should just to spite the record companies.

From DanielE, Crossville, Tennessee
Comes with anti-PC warning. Copying: I have a reg. PC cd-rom and was able to copy tracks 2-14 with CDex 1.40 w/o any problems. All I need now is the 1st track.

OK CD Reports

From Nick, batch # 314 586 6312 05% IFPI 0302
Playing: Redhat Linux 7.2 -- Philips PCRW1208 P3.1 CD-RW Drive
Copying: Ripping the CD to computer works great with CD Paranoia III 9.8. At beginning of rip, it reports "TOC entry claims a negative start offset: massaging", then rips fine. No problems whatsover, acts like a normal CD.