BlackBeard used our newssubmit to tell us about an article in Newscientist. This article is about Cactus Datashield. They claim it's a new protection, but if I remember it right is has already been on the market for a long time.
The protection is not like Macrovisions SafeAudio. Cactus Data Shield should also protect an audio CD from being copied instead of only a anti rip protection such as SafeAudio.
Midbar's patent points out that all music CDs store bursts of music code and control information. The music data is marked with "flags" which tell the CD player to decode it and send it to the amplifier and loudspeakers. The control information is not decoded. |
When burning the original CD, Midbar's idea is to replace some of the music with false data and label it as control information. While CD players do not decode this, they are designed to disguise the gap by bridging it with guessed data. So the original CD plays acceptably, according to Midbar.
"There is little or no net difference in audio quality," it claims in its patent, though the company will not identify the "golden-eared" listeners who have tested the system.
If the CD is copied, however, the copier machine (a PC or disc-to-disc copier) sees the fake control data as music. So when the copied disc is played, there are bursts of distortion as the player tries in vain to decode the garbage. It not only sounds bad, says Midbar, but it is "potentially damaging" to the player's circuitry if the added noise has a suitable wave shape.
This protection should also be able to harm your equipment, I think the time has come that lawyers will look into taking steps against the music industry. Of course they should be able to protect their music from copying and ripping but they forget there are legal reasons to copy or rip a CD.
So you can make a copy for a legal reason and this copy can damage your stereo. I think they completely lost it...
Source: Newscientis
