Nora Jones new CD -- Copy Protection -- YIKES

I received the same email from EMI/Bluenote.

Well, I just tried to rip the CD using WMP9 and it failed. I will be on the phone first thing tomorrow to blue note demanding my refund. If I can't listen to it on my computer I don't want it.

Here is the telephone number to Blue Note records.

(212) 786-8600

Call them and express your disatisfaction. I hope Agon lets this post go through even though they have a policy against posting phone numbers. We shouldn't have to put up with this. At least they could have put a warning sticker on the disc. Like I said, if I can't play it on my computer, then I don't want it.

I just got off the phone with them. They informed me that this CD is ment to by played in audio only (stand alone) CD/DVD players.

Good luck,

I called Blue Note 4 times today. I'm getting the run around and getting transfered all over the place. So, if I don't receive an answer by tomorrow morning I'm going to file in small claims court. Most people might think I'm going overboard, but it's just the whole idea thats bothering me. I paid for the rights to the music, so I should be able to listen to it on what ever machine I choose to. Hey, if I can get 3 other people to file in court we can seek class action status.

Good news - the Norah Jones CD is not copy protected. The problem is that the Bandlink software can get a little weird and break windows media player. After a few calls to Blue note somebody finally gave my number to Cedric at CDIntelligence, the distributer for the Bandlink software. He was very polite and knowledgable and after about 20 minutes I was able to figure out how to get it to play. On some windows xp PC's you might have to disable autorun to prevent then Bandlink software from launching. After I did this (in the registry - don't go there) the CD booted up fine and I was able to play it. I was even able to rip it to my music hard drive.

Blue Note (EMI) is taking a different approach to preventing illegal copying. They are giving you extra content to encourage you to buy the CD. In fact, if you intall the Bandlink software, you can get access to a bonus track and other material.

I was surprised to have someone call me at 7pm to help me with my problem. I didn't expect to have anyone return my call. Especially from a big record company like EMI.

Anyway, I hope this helps other people that were having the same issue.

Budrew,

Something I learned in the computer business is that a software company makes no guarantee on the performace of their software. So, if it doesn't work on your PC, your SOL. The only thing that you can do is send it back to the manufacturer and hope for a refund. A publisher makes no guarantee on the quality of the writing in a book.

On the back of the CD it does say "insert the Cd into a CD-ROM drive and gain access to exclusive content". So, I'm assuming it should work in just about any CDROM drive. I tried it in all three of my computers with the same result; it would read the Table of Contents, but I could not get it to play. BTW - all three are running WinXP.

Recently, I've become tired of shuffling CD's. I do the majority of my listening while sitting at the computer. I only fire up the big rig when I'm in the mood for some serious listening. I decided to rip some of my favorite CD's to an external 200GB HD using lossless compression. It's so convenient to have about 500-600 CD's at your fingertips. I do beleive that the industry is heading this way. In a couple of years we'll have HD's measured in terabytes and all our music and video will be stored on them.

I have to agree with you about copyright law stifling creativity. Recently, it seams like whenever something is about to enter into the public domain, someone comes forward and gets an extension to the copyright. The way things are going, those old Disney cartoon copyrights should expire somtime in the 22nd century.

Later,

Spudco,

What impresses me the most about this is how quick Blue Note(EMI) stepped up to the plate and resolved the issue. Today, most companies take the "hurry up and wait" approach to customer service.

BTW - now that i've had a chance to listen to a few tracks I'm enjoying it. A definite step in the right direction after "come away with me".

Let me also appologize publicly to Blue Note.

The bonus track is only available on the computer.

You have to install the Bandlink software.