anonymous
18 May 2005
A client told me that the duplication plant told her there is some software that mastering engineers can install on a CD master that prevents it from being copied unless you have the key/password to unlock it. I've never heard of such a thing. Did I miss something?
Does anyone know what they might be talking about?
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It sounds to me like you are talking about the copy protection m
It sounds to me like you are talking about the copy protection measures that labels use to try to keep discs from being pirated. There are some pros and cons to it. Pros: protects your work. Cons: some CD players (especially older ones) won't play them.
There are two things that are done to achieve "copy protection". The most common is the CD is actually an Enhanced CD with just the simple hiding of the CDA files (references from the TOC). It basically tells the computer that nothing is on there.
The second way is that the disc is actually full of bit errors that 90% of CD players correct using Solomon-Reed error correction. (This error correction is what allows scratched CD's to still play fine for the most part.) Now, the reason the CD (usually) won't get corrected in the CD-ROM drive is because CD-ROM drives use a less accurate form of error correction. That's probably why I get one scratch on Command & Conquer and it won't work, but I can damn near scratch the hell out of a non-protected audio cd and play it in a cd player and it sound close to perfect.
There are ways around that in Sound Forge though (I may be an analog guy for recording, but digital stuff does have its place)...that's how I got a copy of Green Day: International Superhits that would actually play in my CD player (they over did it on the bit errors).