[linux-audio-user] Copy-Protection of Audio-CDs produced by myself

[Daniel James]

> > how can i simply protect my own prduced audio-cds?

Copyright is probably the best protection available, rather than a 
dubious technological solution. I'm not aware of any DRM system that 
can't be bypassed in some way. For background information, here's an 
article I wrote:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug03/articles/drm.htm

Once you have copyright firmly established, you can then consider a 
copyleft licence to regulate the kind of use that will be made of 
your music, such as the Creative Commons licences.

I think the ultimate question for a musician is 'do you want less 
people or more people to hear your music?' Professional artists need 
a critical mass of appreciative listeners, after all. It's my belief 
that the subset of people who never pay for music won't be made to 
pay for it by DRM, so why care if they hear it for free?

To give an example, this week I went to the website of a local 
musician who has just signed a five album deal. I've never heard this 
guy's music at all, but I'm interested. So on the website, the 
advertised download turns out to be a sub-CD quality Windows Media 
Player file that I have to pay £1 to hear (that's about 1.83 US 
dollars), use my own bandwidth to download and burn to CD myself - if 
that's allowed.

Suddenly I'm less interested - not because I'm cheap, but because this 
artist (or his management) is using a method of media delivery that I 
don't find to be a particularly compelling purchase. Offer a tangible 
CD that I can play on any machine without loss of quality or stupid 
restrictions, and I'm the first to get my wallet out.

Cheers

Daniel