"Protected" music downloads, whats the point?

[ukaskew]

A while back I downloaded a load of tracks from MSN Music, now I have a Sony-Ericsson W810i Walkman phone and wanted to transfer my tracks over to it. About half transferred over fine and the rest just refused to move.

On closer inspection all the tracks that won't budge have "Protected: Yes" in the properties, whilst the ones that did transfer had "No" in the same field. Yet on MSN it now has a "Rights Information" panel for each track (not there when I purchased) and the ones that won't transfer are all listed as "unlimited transfers" so they seem fine. The problem seems to arise because my phone needs to convert them to a different format (MP3) which it seems actually isn't allowed. I only used MSN as they seem to have most of the more obscure stuff I was actually looking for ("Cabala - Dark Blue" was my test subject on most sites)

What's the point?! You buy music legally and are restricted to listening to it on your computer and that's it. And no warning about it not working too. In this case I wouldn't feel bad getting it illegally if I knew how the hell to do it, I've paid for it after all.

So learn from my mistake if you are a law-abiding citizen, check everything before even considering a download, even the information that doesn't actually exist!

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Thats why i do it illegally , no hassle with the songs , do whatever ya want with em .They're not exactly tempting people to buy music legally when you can't do what you want to do with the song once you've bought it . When will they ever learn

 

[unofficialPete]

AFAIK now that you have bought it once you can download it legally from other sources, call em 'copies'...

 

[sn00p]

Got to love copy protection on software though, we protect our software with a dongle and in the 6 years it's been out it's not been cracked yet, despite all the requests for cracks I see when I'm browsing places like that.

 

[unofficialPete]

Is it wanted software though, I'm sure if it was (like Photoshop) it wouldn't last 5 minutes

 

[McBunny]

Got to love copy protection on software though, we protect our software with a dongle and in the 6 years it's been out it's not been cracked yet, despite all the requests for cracks I see when I'm browsing places like that.

whats your software ??

 

[sn00p]

Is it wanted software though, I'm sure if it was (like Photoshop) it wouldn't last 5 minutes

Yes it is wanted.

And there's zero chance of it being cracked.

 

[sn00p]

Oh and our previous DOS generation was never cracked after we moved to our own copy protection (we initially used a third party protection scheme which was cracked almost the moment it was released)

Despite the versions with our own protection appearing numerous times on a notorious cracking site (no longer around - probably the most famous site of all if you had an interest in reverse engineering) - it's protection was weak compared to the latest stuff.

 

[unofficialPete]

I'd put money on these guys doing it..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARADOX_(warez)

 

[sn00p]

I'd put money on these guys doing it..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARADOX_(warez)

I wouldn't.

 

[Revels]

Whats your program snoop?

 

[KyleB]

snoop do you work for datel?

 

[G_F]

Bet you i can crack it, if i can't, i will give you £50, if i do, i own you.

 

[G_F]

.....probably the most famous site of all, if you had an interest in reverse engineering)

I do and the best, most notorious sites are still around and have been for 15 years.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[ant]

if it "cant" be cracked then what is it?

 

[sn00p]

Bet you i can crack it, if i can't, i will give you £50, if i do, i own you.

Mnnn...candy from a baby

 

[G_F]

I'm here all night...

 

[ant]

if it "cant" be cracked then what is it?

what i said.

 

[G_F]

^^ It is a software program and he may be true to his word..

 

[ant]

^^ It is a software program and he may be true to his word..

you believe that?