I had a a look at the EMI web site where they have an FAQ on their copy protection technology and some forums for the discussion of this technology. From these forums I have learnt that
- The copy-protected CDs won’t even play on a Mac
- For the CDs to play on Windows you have to agree to the installation of software (on Windows XP it doesn’t even ask apparently – the software just installs)
- When you do play the CD on a PC it actually plays a 48Kbit WMA file instead of the origianl CD audio
- Massive Attack’s latest album is also copy protected. This is another album that I would have purchased – I have several of their others.
- You can easily circumvent the copy protection with CDEX
I also had a look on Gnutella and found more than 100 Norah Jones tracks available for download, So, it seems that EMI are losing customers while failing to prevent piracy. Looks like they are on a winner with this plan.
I think I will drop in to Fish Records next week and let them know that they have lost two album sales because of EMI’s copy protection decisions.