Klarinet Archive - Posting 000640.txt from 2002/05

From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Copy protection and pirated copies.
Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 12:44:53 -0400

I've been mystified by the brouhaha over copy protection. It seems to me
that the obvious way to pirate a copy-protected digital CD is to play it
with the analog signal coming through "line out" and going into a digital
recorder through "line in", creating the WAV file and/or MP3, MOV, MPG, AVI
or other file with no copy protection. One digital to analog to digital
cycle when well done will be undetectable to the human ear in my opinion.

Admittedly, I was surprised to discover when I created my web page with the
1/1000 second clip of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik -- "Cylinders, 78s, LPs and CDs"
( http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/smt310-handouts/cylinders/cylinders.htm )
that the sonogram from my digital editing very definitely showed the step
functions one would expect, on reflection. But my feeling is that those
step functions get smoothed out even with the smallest capacitance in the
analog part of the audio system and subsequent digitization will simply
start with the smoothed analog functions. Sometimes this is the ONLY way
to do the job because occasionally cheaply made CDs hang up in one's
computer for reasons other than copy protection, but they don't when played
through a regular audio system.

Is the problem with this method that it takes too long? Comments anyone --
then I promise not to go off topic (for a while, anyway).

Oliver

Oliver

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