Cactus Data Shield 300 introduced

yea, yea, thats all great??? but surely someone can just copy the cd by 'analog' means and share it with the world man!!!!! ;)

Well this is a step for the better, but still not good enough. This line especially bothers me: " - Enables playability on PCs through the Microsoft Windows Media Player". I´ve tried versions 7 and 9 of WMP. v.7 is somewhat of disaster when compared to competing players, but MS has managed to improve the software in version 9. I only tried it briefly when watching the 3D Mark '03 teaser though, seemed less bloated than the other versions, but still not right on. So if Midbar and Macrovision want to make this thing work, they better stick to audio-plyers worthy of use.

If an Audio player has a headphones jack on it, then it doesn't matter what type of copy protection is uses as its audio can simply be rerecorded. Of course, one would also need a high quality line cable and a high end/low noise audio capture card. I don't think Windows XP uses any sort watermark detection or anything like this yet, but maybe someday Audio CDs may use this and Microsoft will release an update for XP as a 'Critical Update' as usual. With the poor quality of MP3s on the web, it wouldn't make any difference whether that person rips the audio digitally or has rerecorded it. Roughly half the MP3's I have come across on the web at 128kbps have been encoded as 'Stereo' instead of 'Joint-stereo'. Joint-stereo compresses the common sound information between left and right, giving much better Audio quality for a slight loss in stereo.

Hah. Sooner or later, someone is going to find a way to copy the music digitally without doing it through Micro$oft's WMA. I store *ALL* my music as OGG, and everything is self-ripped. I don't warez music. If I like something, I buy it. So basically, by "protecting" these discs with CDS, they are stopping me from listening to my music without inserting the CD - I rarely use Micro$oft Windows. I'll find a way to copy them, and then I'll post it here. Happy hunting guys.

I was thinking of starting to use Ogg instead of LAME, but since I can´t burn audio-CDs from Ogg-files (not with Nero atleast), I´ll probably wait until Ogg has more widespread support.

Wow, even with CDS 300, I still ripped the music right off the CD. I used WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER TO DO IT. Oh, and since you guys put that CDS 300 bull §hit on this new CD i bought so I can't copy it. Im just going to share all the songs that I converted to mp3s over kazaa, imesh, and winmx. So blow!

Some of you need to be made aware of the hardship you may be causing some bands... What if I tell you that there are small, struggling bands out there that, because of people who download their music as if it was theirs to begin with, are not getting the small amount of revenue that is needed to survive? I know of bands that live off 'Top Ramen noodles' because in order to continue touring they need gas money to make it to the other cities and so rather than flake out on their fans they skimp out on food, while some supposed fans steal their music from websites and services that make money by offering music that is not theirs to begin with. How are these bands supposed to make it when their own fans steal from them without thinking twice? We should support musicians by PURCHASING their music and not pretending it is ok to just take it and pass it on. I think it has gone too far. I support what the music industry is doing to protect these peoples intellectual property. What if you were in their shoes? Think about it. I think anyone who downloads music and doesn't pay should be prosecuted! There is growing support now from true music fans, and a few hacker sites, that call for exploiting these thieves for what they are. I say, let's all join in, in cleaning up the filth that has infected the scene.