[linux-audio-user] Reading/playing a "copy protected" CD : cdparanoia seems not to help

[Chris Pickett]

Jan Depner wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-06-28 at 02:46, Anahata wrote:
> 
>>On Mon, Jun 28, 2004 at 12:35:03AM +0300, Sampo Savolainen wrote:
>>
>>>you could try to find a CD player
>>>with spdif output and, presuming you have spdif input on your computer,
>>>record the data digitally from a normal player.
>>
>>The possibility of doing this (I assume copy protected CDs can't prevent
>>it, if they can be played at all) is one more thing that makes a
>>mockery of the whole business of copy protection.
> 
> 
> 	What really makes a mockery of the copy protection racket is what the
> RIAA calls the "analog hole".  If I can hear it, I can copy it.  Find a
> CD player that can handle the chewed up CD, run the analog outs to your
> computer, record it.  I seriously doubt that there is anyone around who
> can tell the difference between a digitally ripped copy and a digitally
> encoded analog copy.  

I can tell the difference, if it's not done properly, and it isn't 
entirely trivial to do it properly.  For starters, you need a decent 
soundcard ... I've tried the stereo mini-in jack on this laptop and also 
on a couple of other older motherboards / soundblasters and the quality 
is _nowhere_ near the quality I get out of the VXpocket v2 with balanced 
inputs, and even that's probably at the lower end of the "prosumer" 
range.  Non-sound people I know can immediately tell the difference too. 
  I've heard enough badly ripped vinyl recordings that I don't really 
trust the general populace to make analog-to-digital encodings of any 
work.  Admittedly there are more complex factors involved with vinyl 
than with CD's, but if it's any indication ...

I would like to agree though, and also find copy protection of any sort 
to be ridiculous, in that "if I can read it, I can copy it". It's just 
that in practice there can be so many hoops to jump through that you 
start asking, "why do I even want this in the first place?"

Cheers,
Chris