It amazes me how a company such as EA, Sony, 2K, etc have idiots in charge that they actually allow such shite to be implemented on what might otherwise be a really good game. Sadly, this is really taking a toll on the computer game industry. People aren't going to want to purchase these games, and who can blame them since they have a built in virus. I still prefer computer games over console, but I never imagined that the industry would be led by such retards with such a malicious design against paying costumers. Well, maybe this will be another hard lesson for another industry... banks failing, auto industry failing, perhaps the computer industry will join them? ... and I was so hoping to play Red Alert 3 at some point, since it does star Gina Carano Anyway, has anyone around here dealt with SecuROM or some other DRM?

cheers,

-avatar!

I was worried that a lot of VGM (and other music) would have to deal with copy-protected discs a few years back, but they seem to have died out, thank goodness. I still refuse to purchase Sonic Heroes (I have the domestic version though) and the Sega Rock albums because they are copy-protected.

It's stupid because it hurts paying customers and if someone wants to pirate the item bad enough, it's normally not enough to keep them out of it.

And what's more, it often causes people who would not normally pirate to do so.

It's all about the money now I'm afraid. I just finished a rather awful experience with the "biz". Not sure if I wanna dive back in now (although I still do love making games).

I simply won't buy anything that has protection on it if I know about it; Locomotive Records does this when they release Euro Metal albums over here and I just say no; I'll import before I have one of their discs in my collection.

I don't support copy protection by any means, but I haven't had any issues copying or burning CDs that were supposedly copywritten - namely FFX-2 OST and Piano Collections as well as both SEGAROCK albums. I think the X-2 OST was the first album I bought that was copy protected and I was furious that I wouldn't be able to rip or copy the discs... until I just tried it and it worked just fine.

And it worked because it was supposed to work.

"Copy-protected" CDs do not prevent you from ripping the sound tracks from a CD. They prevent you from creating another ISO image of the data on the CD.

From what I understand and from reports from users at the time they were around, they caused problems with computers that tried to rip them (high resource usage and freezing, IIRC). Some people have reported no issues ripping, some have...I don't feel it's worth the risk if something does happen to my computer, especially with the retarded media player software included (I wouldn't risk ripping them if they were given to me, much less if I actually paid for them). Also, my old burning software (Roxio something...forgot the name) had problems with the gamemp3 files from the Sega Rock and Sonic Heroes albums (which are generally high quality rips...the burned CD's would freeze at the end of the album...I had Sega Rock 1 followed by Sega Rock 2 on 1 disc, minus a few tracks, and it would always freeze after the end of the Sega Rock 1 tracks and be totally messed up during most of the SR2 tracks), which I haven't experience with anything else. iTunes and Nero haven't had any issues with them though.

And also, there were reports that they would not play on certain CD PLAYERS, which was cause enough for ridicule and boycotting.

At the time they came out, I was very against pirating music, but my thought all along with copy protected CD's was literally "copy the shit out of them, because they're begging for it."

Last thing: I've heard their life expectancy is lower than that of a regular CD. I don't know enough about this, but I suspect they wouldn't hold up to wear and tear as well as a regular CD, kind of how a CD-R keels over much faster, but not as bad (maybe?). Zane, since I know you like to listen to originals a lot, I'd be REALLY careful with 'em if I were you.

  She is something, isn't she?

So the copy protection does nothing to prevent someone from ripping the tracks and sharing the rips with a million of his closest friends?  Brilliant.

Gina never answered my love letters.