Hi everyone. I haven't bought a CD in a long time, but am considering
purchasing music from BMG and Columbia House because of the low per-cd
cost. I do not use CDs anymore, so I will be ripping the tracks that I
want from these CDs for use with my computer and mp3 players.

My question is: how advanced is CD copy protection these days? I have
been able to rip my old CD collection without any problems- will I be
able to rip these new CDs without probelm as well, or should I just
stick with downloading mp3s and forgo the CD route altogether?

I think you are on the right track. Some of the download mp3's are awful.
Many are distorted and most are clipping like mad when I look at them in
SoundForge. I haven't encountered any problems ripping (yet), but I also
never install any software off a CD that could possibly defeat my ripping
(i.e videos, extras, screensavers, etc.). Also, turn off Auto-Start for
your player so nothing will get loaded to defeat you ripping the tracks.
Look to something like CDex or Exact Auto Copy to do the rip. I've even
ripped the Surround Sound tracks off music DVD's without too much of a
problem but you might need some other software to do it.
My biggest beef is the players that will not allow you to off-load a mp3 due
to Digital Rights Management copyright nonsense. Keep a copy somewhere for
later loads. Case in point: new Archo's player will allow for cover art to
be loaded in the mp3 file and displayed with the song. Only problem is I
cannot get the mp3 off the player to load the image with a Tag Editor. It
needs to be attached to a newly ripped mp3 and then loaded into the player.
Check the Doom9.org site for more info.

Good luck.

B~


B~

On 14 Feb 2005 21:09:15 -0800, dredge wrote:
Hi everyone. I haven't bought a CD in a long time, but am considering
purchasing music from BMG and Columbia House because of the low per-cd
cost. I do not use CDs anymore, so I will be ripping the tracks that I
want from these CDs for use with my computer and mp3 players.

My question is: how advanced is CD copy protection these days? I have
been able to rip my old CD collection without any problems- will I be
able to rip these new CDs without probelm as well, or should I just
stick with downloading mp3s and forgo the CD route altogether?


CD protection relies on people using Autoplay and Windows. If you
disable autoplay, the CD is simply a collection of data.

If you use Linux or BeOS, there might as well be no copy protection at
all.