Sony to recall DRM enabled CDs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/technology/16sony.html

"We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause our customers," the company said in a letter that it said it would post on its Web site, "and are committed to making this situation right." Neither representatives of Sony BMG nor the British company First 4 Internet, which developed the copy protection software, would comment further.

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No, I suspect that they deeply regret having to shell out untold millions of dollars to buy back the CDs that they sold in what can only be described as seriously deffective as manufactured.

I read that Amazon declared them defective products and is refunding customers who returned these cds. I'm not sure if thats the case but it would be nice.

Ebola said:

I read that Amazon declared them defective products and is refunding customers who returned these cds. I'm not sure if thats the case but it would be nice.

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<3 Amazon

Correctly translated, the article should read:

What they actually mean said:

"We deeply regret the fact that our shareholders are going to foot the bill, but we're going to minimize it by taking it out of our employee paychecks, claiming hardship beyond the corporate control.* We're committed to making money."

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As I have said elsewhere, First4's developers should be drawn, quartered, and the remains scattered across the world as a warning to others.

* See also In re. Delta, a bankrupcy case...

Refund/Recall or not, Sony/BMG no longer have my business. No more music, no more Playstations (and games), no more TV's, anything that Sony has a part in I will no longer support.

Ebola said:

I read that Amazon declared them defective products and is refunding customers who returned these cds. I'm not sure if thats the case but it would be nice.

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Fro what I havee seen I cannot confirm that. However, it does appear that they are biluding the words CONTENT/COPY-PROTECTED CD into the titles of discs that they know about, for example:

Van Zant -- get right with the man

Which brings me to yet another question. What discs did they do this to? In one of the other threads, someone posted that they tried to get that information out of sony. According to that post, Sony claimed that they had done it on all recently released CDs. Now when I check googlenews, the number 20 is being kicked around.

Yes but which 20? Or is it really some other number? Perhaps there are 40 titles out there but people have only found 20 of them. Let's face it, Sony was low enough to do this in the first place, perhaps they are low enough to not let people know what they may have (thus keeping profits from being hit harder than they could be).

The fact is that we don't know for sure and I can't find anything on Sony's web site that would indicate what the case may actually be.

cornbread said:

Refund/Recall or not, Sony/BMG no longer have my business. No more music, no more Playstations (and games), no more TV's, anything that Sony has a part in I will no longer support.

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This is probably why they issued the recall. This story hit the NY Times and Wired called for an all out boycott of Sony. I've casually brought up to a bunch of people that Sony intentionally puts a virus on your computer when you insert one of their music CDs so that they could control how you listen to your music and hide things on your computer from you. They were also unrepentent. It may not even be consumer pressure so much as the potential for a big time loss from the lawsuits that are coming.

These tactics are repulsive and I won't buy anything from Sony either, at least until I know that they've learned a lesson from this but I don't think they have. There is a boycott sony blog out there (google it) and one post lists all of Sony's product lines, including television shows, movies, hardware, music, etc. For them to learn it has to hurt.

Ploaf, there are lots of blogs out there right now that are carrying anti-sony work. Did you perhaps mean the list of 47 titles known to be infected over at idiotabroad.com?

Malpine Walis said:

Fro what I havee seen I cannot confirm that. However, it does appear that they are biluding the words CONTENT/COPY-PROTECTED CD into the titles of discs that they know about, for example:

Van Zant -- get right with the man

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To Amazon for doing this. Hopefully they will implement this on all copy-protected music/software.

I believe that they have. Check this google search:
http://www.google.com/search?client...amazon.com+COPY+PROTECTED+&btnG=Google+Search

But they can only do that with CDs that are properly identified by the publisher. Given that Sony did not tell anyone what they were doing until they were caught at it, one can only wonder how many disc titles are out there with rootkits or some other unpleasant technology on it.

I was in the mood to annoy so I went to the Sony site and through their customer service site I asked for a list of all sony CD's that contain the rootkit. I told them that my clients are concerned about security and that I need a list of all CD's with this root kit so I know what CD's to ban at the work place. I also asked when they will be releasinga removal tool.

still noreply.

Here's a list of the titles that Sony is recalling that have the rootkit crap on them:

— Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
— Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
— Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
— Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
— Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
— Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
— Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
— The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
— Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
— Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
— Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
— Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
— Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
— Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
— Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
— The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
— The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
— Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
— Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)
— Ricky Martin, Life (Columbia)

Source page.

I hope that more people feel like me and others and don't buy anything that Sony has their greasy, slimy hands into. I want to see them hurt in the worst possible way; the profit margin.

Well, that would be 20 which is what Sony is admitting to right now. However, that source page lists another source page further back, specifically from the EFF. The way they are finding titles is to look at the discs on a mac, under the assumption that that is safe.

What is especially interesting is that they actually identify 23 titles that are protected although the other 3 not on your list are using different software that from what I see may be capable of infecting mac computers.

Then too, there is the list on a blog that I found that includes many more titles:

Foo Fighters - In Your Honour
Van Zant - Get Right with the Man
Ricky Martin - Life
Sarah McLachlan - Bloom Remix Album
Celine Dion - On Ne Change Pas
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Santana - All That I Am
Chris Botti - To Love Again
Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound
Patty Loveless - Dreamin’ My Dreams
Montgomery Gentry - Something To Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005
Mary Mary - Mary Mary
My Morning Jacket - Z
David Gray - Life In Slow Motion
Bob Brookmeyer - Bob Brookmeyer & Friends
Shelly Fairchild - Ride
Kasabian - Kasbian
Pete Seeger - The Essential Pete Seeger
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
Elkland - Golden
Susie Suh - Susie Suh
Buddy Jewel - Times Like These
Chayanne - Cautivo
A Static Lullaby - Faso Latido
Our Lady Peace - Healthy In Paranoid Times
The Coral - The Invisible Invasion
Dexter Gordon - Manhattan Symphonie
Acceptance - Phantoms
Dion - The Essential Dion
The Dead 60s - The Dead 60s
Goapele - Change It All
Los Lonely Boys - TBD
Life of Agony - Broken Valley
George Jones - My Very Special Guests
Horace Silver - Silver’s Blue
Amici Forever - Defined
Ahmed Jamal - The Legendary Okeh and Epic Recordings
Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
Hitch - Soundtrack
Charlotte Martin - On Your Shore
Vivian Green - Vivian
Raheem DeVaughn - The Love Experience
Amerie - Touch
Nivea - Complicated
Mario - Turning Point
G3 - Live In Tokyo

Any guess what is up with them?

Heh, Sony regrets nothing but their lost profits and the fact that they got caught. So not impressed by this. Far too little, far too late. Time to hit them in the only place that matters to them, their wallets.

I also feel bad for some artists... did they even know that their product would be tainted by this XCP software?

Really, all the artists should pull from Sony. That'll hurt Sony the most!

I agree with you, dark. If I were one of the artists that Sony smacked with the rootkit enabled releases, I would consider their actions breach of contract and go elsewhere, plus sue their asses off for lost revenue due to Sony damaging their reputation because of their greed.