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Dave Matthews Band Offers Copy Protection Circumvention; Asks Apple to Support WMA

Monday, August 15th, 2005 at 2:25 PM - by

The Dave Matthews Band has posted instructions for Windows-using fans telling them how to circumvent the copy protection on the its latest CD, Stand Up, so that the songs can be loaded into iTunes, and onto an iPod. (Mac users can use the CD normally.) The instructions also include a call to Apple to support secure Windows Media Audio (WMA) files in iTunes, and a request to the band's fans to write Apple requesting the same thing.

At issue is the fact that Stand Up has copy protection that prevents Windows users from being able to use the CD on their Windows machine as a normal audio CD. In order to listen to the tunes, one must drag included secure WMA files to your hard drive, where they can be listened to through Windows Media Player (detailed instructions on how to do so are offered by the band).

From there, however, the songs must be burned to a CD, which can then be used normally by iTunes and iPod, a fairly straightforward circumvention of the copy protection offered by the band itself. Similar to songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store and the other music download sites, secure WMA files can be burned to a CD a limited number of times, though the limits are more restrictive than Apple's.

The band would like to make life easier for Windows users, though not by stopping the use of copy protection. Instead, the band has asked Apple to support the copy protection scheme (secure WMA) it has chosen for its CD, and it wants fans to write to Apple, too.

From the site: "Please note an easier and more acceptable solution requires cooperation from Apple, who we have already reached out to in hopes of addressing this issue. To help speed this effort, we ask that you use the following link to contact Apple and ask them to provide a solution that would easily allow you to move content from protected CDs into iTunes or onto your iPod rather than having to go through the additional steps above. http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html."

You can use the direct link to read the instructions, which are presented in the band's News and Press page.

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Billy K said:

member since 06 May 2004 with 297 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:36 pm

Dave Matthews Band...the group that has infamously denied letting iTunes sell their songs? Yeah, OK, sit down and shut up, stupid frat-hippies.

(And yes, I know they allowed their new record on iTunes. It's the only one.)

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motobike_man said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 4 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:42 pm

Oh, so its apples fault your record company is putting your crap on DRM enabled disks... DMB, i used to be a big fan but your general cluelessness has finaly driven me nuts.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:44 pm

More brilliance from a band whose social relevance went from 90-0 in the time it takes a gnat to take a leak.

"Oh, we don't like that you control 70% of the global music download market on a platform that isn't Windows. Won't you please, please change to allow our music in inferior format to work on your superior product?"

Give me a break. IT ALREADY WORKS. Oh wait, your WMA format has Microsoft's DRM scheme in it which prevents it from working.

Who's problem is this really?????

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:48 pm

Until this DRM is agreed to be added as an open standard to the standard spec for Compact Discs (Red Book, I think), Apple should not change anything in iTunes.

Apple should change only if people think DRM is a good thing for CDs and so codify it as the standard.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:50 pm

Where's Cory Doctorow's rant on this? Apple is the only hold-out against DRM on CDs - refusing to work with WMA DRM and refusing to offer Fairplay DRM on CDs.

Shouldn't Apple get some praise?

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Rainy Day said:

member since 07 Jun 2005 with 607 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:57 pm

What twisted logic! Well, they're musicians, not mathematicians.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:02 pm

If Apple yields, they better get the labels agree to allow Apple to offer higher-quality 160/192 kbps-encoded music for $.99, and lossless encoding for $1.49-$1.99.

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Al Swearengen said:

member since 10 May 2005 with 339 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:08 pm

Rainy Day wrote:
What twisted logic! Well, they're musicians, not mathematicians.

Well there is a strong tie between music and mathematics, that is if one is a "musician" and not a performer.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:15 pm

I'm a huge DMB fan, but their hypocracy lately is driving me nuts. Most of their latest album is about "standing up" for things they believe in. (Anit-war, anti-Bush, standing up for your beliefs, no matter what they are.) I don't have anything against thier politics, but don't make music that's anti-establishment and then insist your listeners use only a certain format.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:19 pm

Never liked those pseudo-hippy-wannabes anyway...

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:26 pm

its thier own fault for going with such crappy DRM to begin with. A DRM which assumes thier fans are all thieves .

i will never buy a CD i cant rip to my HD any way i want.

Screw em, and thier label.

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jimothy said:

member since 04 Jun 2004 with 612 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:29 pm

Out of curiosity...how long does it take a gnat to take a leak?

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Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 413 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:37 pm

I have an easier workaround, Dave Matthews. Simply turn off Auto-run on your PC. Then the crappy DRM on your CD is completely bypassed and the songs can be imported directly into iTunes.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:48 pm

About a "gnat-o-second"

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Steve W said:

member since 22 Nov 2002 with 482 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:06 pm

Tiger wrote:
About a "gnat-o-second"

Groooooaaann! Very punny.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:17 pm

I guess I'm a little slow... They are complaining that their material is too hard to rip now?! Didn't DMB stay away from iTMS forever because they claimed it wasn't "safe"?

Seems to me that since the problem only exists on Windows machines, that perhaps Micro$oft should be the one bending for the 75% portable music market-share company, not the other way around.

Seriously, I don't get it, somebody explain!

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:13 pm

LOL. So they didn't like iTMS. But now that artists are making money off it, they suddenly don't mind putting up their latest album on it. And since so many fans use iPods, they post instructions on how to use their CD with iPods. Cause you wouldn't want to lose any immediate sales to people put off by the DRM. But also getting around DRM could lead to lost sales in the long run, so like Apple should support their DRM. I sense a common theme here. Show me da $$$!

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:54 pm

if the music is good enough I buy it, before that I try it

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:17 pm

"How I feel when I'm drunk is correct?"

"Yes. Except the Dave Matthews Band doesn't rock."

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:28 pm

You've just got to love this line: "If you have a Mac computer you can copy the songs using your iTunes Player as you would normally do."

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:54 pm

So the Dave Mathhews Band doesn't like secure WMV format and posts instructions on how to circumvent it, but they want Apple to support secure WMV format.

What the fщck did they replace their brains with? Hello, Dave Matthews Band, if you don't like your CDs being copy protected with secure WMV, then DEMAND THAT YOUR CDS STOP BEING COPY PROTECTED WITH SECURE WMV. ASK YOUR FANS TO DEMAND THE SAME.

DO NOT DEMAND THAT APPLE SHOULD SUPPORT COPY PROTECTED SONGS IN SECURE WMV FORMAT. DO NOT ASK YOUR FANS TO DO THE SAME.

Seriously, are they insane? I mean... Jesus Christ.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:44 pm

Pearl Jam gets it. They've always gotten it. They were on the forefront of the iTMS bandwagon. They link their songs on their website(s) directly to iTMS. They have so much content on the iTMS it's almost frightening. Amazing how Apple's success literally has to shove money up people's a$$es to get them to realize, "it's the experience, stupid". DMB - shut up and go away. You're over.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2088 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:01 pm

What gets me is that the band has posted instructions that not only allow a Windows user to put the songs on an iPod, but to make leventy-million copies on CDs. They just burn the CD with WMP, then copy the CD with any of the many Windows utilities available. Some years ago, I saw a presentation by an ex-burglar who said that most "security measures" stop only stupid, unimaginative, and lazy thieves. Smart, clever, dedicated thieves have little problem with most alarm systems. Ditto for these sorts of copy-protection schemes. They make life difficult for honest users but cause the dishonest people only about a couple more minutes of work.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:56 am

I love how you Apple fanatics attack the Dave Matthews Band's music because they want Windows Media Audio.

They want WMA! Rally the Mac slaves and attack!

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri May 19, 2006 8:28 pm

I'm so angry at DMB right now. Not only will Stand Up not play. But Everyday is blocked, too. I remember the day when DMB allowed fans to record concerts and trade the recordings. I payed for the music. Why am I being punished? This blocking is the doing of a very selfish small person. I am a DMB fan and I blame Dave Matthews Band and their label.

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