[linux-audio-user] Cactus Data Shield copy controlled cd's

[Daniel James]

> I recently bought the Live NIN CD and was disappointed to find that
> it might be copy protected as well.

We bought Think Tank by Blur, which claims inside the inlay booklet to 
be copy protected (you can't read this until you buy it...) We don't 
normally rip CDs to lossy formats for playing at home, but I was so 
annoyed by the fact that the warning was on the inside rather than 
the outside that I decided to give it a go in Grip and make some 
copies with XCDRoast and K3b. In particular I'm annoyed that they're 
departing from the CD standard and messing around with error 
correction.

It ripped and duplicated with no problems whatsoever, which leaves me 
with three theories:

1. The warning is a bluff

or

2. Some CDs were pressed with the anti-copy technology, others weren't

or

3.  They were going to press the CD with Cactus or whatever (when the 
booklet copy was written) but changed their minds for some reason.

I hope it's 3.

I've written an article on DRM for Sound on Sound, including some 
stuff on Cactus Data Shield, which should hopefully be in the August 
issue.  

Since I wrote that article, an interesting example came my way - 
apparently, radio stations that use PC based playlist systems just 
throw Cactus discs in the bin. If it won't rip at full quality - it 
can't get played on air.

Cheers

Daniel