lördag 21 Jan 2006, 13:56

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2006/01/drm.html

1.10.06: DRM

Happy New Year. Don’t Buy CDs from the Big 5.

CDs from the big five run the risk of damaging your computer, opening you up to security risks, and you can’t rip the music onto your iPod. Stop buying CDs now. At least until they guarantee us that they will never try this shit again.

O.K., I’m exaggerating, but if I need to carry around a list to know which CDs I can safely buy it’s getting out of control.

For those of you who don’t know. Sony, BMG and EMI have been adding software to their CDs to create a kind of copy protection. Warner’s and Universal I don’t know about yet. This software is designed to stop you from copying your CD for your friends or making MP3s…which means you can’t copy it to your iPod, or even copy it to iTunes, which is how an awful lot of music fans listen to an discover music these days.

In addition, some of these CDs contain software that will burrow and worm into your hard drive and do damage — creating security leaks etc. Mainly, as usual, for Windows users, but who knows what else they do. New reports are that the damage Mac operating systems too. The software is very difficult to remove, intentionally so. The record companies have offered repair kits but who knows how effective those are, and the damage is done, guys!

So, first they start off suing their customers, and now they are maliciously making it hard for their customers to even listen to music, and they will cripple your music and media player to boot. These guys deserve to go out of business, they obviously don’t love music, and they don’t understand their own customers. They must have a deathwish or be run by….who? FEMA? Rumsfeld? Bin Laden?

Here are some CDs to avoid at all costs. At least for now.

1. Neil Diamond — 12 Songs (supposed to be a good CD, too)
2. Trey Anastasio — Shine
3. Foo Fighters — In Your Honor
4. Dave Matthews Band — Stand Up
5. Alicia Keys — Unplugged (standard)
6. Angie Stone — Stone Love
7. Babyface — Grown and Sexy
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Howl
9. Charlie Wilson — Charlie last name Wilson
10. Imogen Heap — Speak For Yourself(I almost bought this one)
11. J-Kwon — Hood Hop
12. Kasabian — Kasabian
13. Kings of Leon — Aha Shake Heartbreak
14. Maroon 5 — Live Friday the 13th
15. My Morning Jacket — Z
16. Pink — Try This
17. Santana — All That I Am
18. Sarah McLachlin (her too!?) — Bloom Remix
19. Velvet revolver — Contraband
20. Silvertide — Show and Tell

There are more, but that’s a shocking top 20. To be fair, I don’t think a lot of these artists, maybe none of them, were told this was being done. But they know now.

-David Byrne (former member of the Talking Heads)