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CD's will not rip [Sony root kit problem?]

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benn600:
I have never experienced this before but I now have a stack of 3 CDs that just plain will not rip.  Yes, I know what happens when they're scratched.  These are different.  One, when put in the drive, just quickly spins the drive down.  It shows Enhanced CD in My Computer but MC doesn't see anything.  Another keeps the drive spinning for a minute or two until it stops.  Another does something like this.

These are the first I've ran into such a problem with and they are all newly purchased very recently (but not necessarily released recently).  I can list them if interested but I think it's a general problem.

John Gateley:
Some CD's are copy-protected. It's usually pretty easy to disable, something like holding down the control key when they are inserted, or turning off auto-run, or something like that. List them here, see if anyone else has similar problems with the same titles.

j

benn600:
I already tried holding shift down.  I had auto run disabled on my computer for the longest time but iTunes always tries to enable it and I may have allowed it to.  The titles I'm having trouble ripping are:
Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times
The Cure - self-titled
Ying Yang Twins - United State of Atlanta

Alex B:
"Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times"

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_in_Paranoid_Times

--- Quote ---... Extended Copy Protection

In November 2005, it was revealed that Sony was distributing albums with Extended Copy Protection, a controversial feature that automatically installed rootkit software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CDs contents from being copied, it was also revealed that the software reported the users' listening habits back to Sony and also exposed the computer to malicious attacks that exploited insecure features of the rootkit software. Though Sony refused to release a list of the affected CDs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified Healthy in Paranoid Times as one of the discs with the invasive software. As part of its settlement of the class action lawsuit filed against it, Sony allowed customers to return copies of Healthy in Paranoid Times for new copies plus a cash payment. This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.  ...
--- End quote ---

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Copy_Protection

--- Quote ---... The version of this software used in Sony CDs is the one marketed as "XCP-Aurora". The first time a user attempts to play such a CD on a Windows system, a program will be installed even before a dialog box prompts the user to accept a license agreement.[1] The EULA did not mention that it installed hidden software. The software will then remain resident in the user's system, intercepting all accesses of the CD drive to prevent any media player or ripper software other than the one included with XCP-Aurora from accessing the music tracks of the Sony CD. No obvious way to uninstall the program is provided. Attempting to remove the software by deleting the associated files manually will render the CD drive inoperable due to registry settings that the program has altered.

The included player software will play the songs and allow only a limited degree of other actions such as burning the music onto a certain number of other CDs or loading it onto certain DRM-protected devices such as a few portable music players. The popular iPod, sold by Sony competitor Apple Computer, does not support their DRM format and they could not use Apple's FairPlay.

XCP conceals itself from the user by installing a patch to the Windows operating system. This patch stops ordinary system tools from displaying processes, registry entries, or files whose names begin with $sys$. Other XCP components include "Plug and Play Device Manager", which continuously monitors all other programs being run on the computer.  ...
--- End quote ---

So you may have some nice new software installed...  (I don't know if the installed rootkit can affect all CD playback attempts. Have you tried to rip any other discs on the same PC recently?)

marko:
:)

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