Identifying MediaMax discs
Some BMG discs using the scheme have a label affixed to the front that states:This CD is protected against unauthorized duplication. It is designed to play on standard playback devices and an appropriately configured computer (see system requirements on back). If you have questions or concerns visi
www.sunncomm.com/support/bmg
/blockquote> A section on the back of some packages states, in part:This CD is enhanced with MediaMax software. Windows compatible instructions: Insert disc into CD-ROM drive. Software will automatically install. If it doesn't, click on "LaunchCd.exe." MacOS instructions: Insert disc into CD-ROM drive. Click on "Start." Usage of the CD on your computer requires your acceptance of the End User License Agreement and installation of specific software contained on the CD.
Method of operation
The music on a MediaMax disc is contained in tracks as on a regular compact disc, while the DRM software is present in an additional data track. Therefore, such discs work with almost any CD playback device. Copy restriction is only enforced by thesoftware Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...on the disc: If the software is not installed, disc duplication is not inhibited. On computers runningMicrosoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ..., the typical installation vector is the AutoRun feature of theoperating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in .... When a MediaMax disc is inserted into a Windows PC with AutoRun enabled, software on the disc called ''LaunchCd.exe'' installs adevice driver In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and ot ...that inhibits the ability of other software to directly read data from audio discs in the CD-ROM drive(s). The installation program displays anend user license agreement An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...(EULA) with options to accept or decline the agreement. The user is informed that they must accept the terms of this EULA to use the CD on their computer, but the DRM software is installed without notice, even if they decline, cancel, or terminate the program. InMac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ..., applications cannot run automatically when a disc is inserted, and furthermore when manually running the application, it cannot install anything on the system without consent, requiring administrative credentials from the user. There is no version of MediaMax forLinux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...or any other operating system.
Controversy
The software's propensity to permanently modify the computer's behaviour without knowledge or consent has caused controversy. MediaMax departs from the convention ofdigital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...(DRM) software by ignoring a user's desire to decline the installation. While it displays a license agreement with options to accept or decline, the DRM is installed regardless of the user's choice. When this functionality was brought to SunnComm's attention, the Company resolved the problem by issuing an update that ensured that its DRM would never be installed on a user's computer should the EULA be subsequently declined by that user. This technology update was then applied to all previously sold music CDs (whose users had internet connectivity) as well as to all MediaMax CDs sold in the future. Some artists whose albums were sold with the MediaMax software were dissatisfied that it was put on their compact discs without their consent. The rock bandMy Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ba ...offered advice on their website on how to bypass MediaMax, which was included on their 2005 album '' Z'', and also offered to burn individual copies of the album for fans, free of the copy-protection software.
Alternate options
Because of its dependence on AutoRun on Windows systems, the MediaMax restrictions can be bypassed by a conscientious user as follows. Users concerned about installing software from discs without their permission can disable the AutoRun feature on their computer. Such software includescomputer viruses A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a compu ...(rarely),spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ..., and DRM software such as MediaMax. People who do not disable AutoRun can prevent the software from loading by holding down theshift key The Shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row. The Shift key's name originated f ...each time a disc is inserted.
Identification and removal
Windows PCs with MediaMax installed are identifiable by their having a Windows service installed named "sbcphid." MediaMax's stealth install provides no uninstall option, in keeping with the absence of notification that the installation happened. However, in contrast to the previous XCP copy protection components used by Sony/BMG, the Windows service that MediaMax installs can be safely and easily stopped, disabled and removed. Users with administrative privileges can accomplish this via Windows' Service Controller ("sc") command line utility (using the "stop" and "delete" arguments), after which MediaMax's driver file (sbcphid.sys) can be deleted from the Windows\System32\Drivers directory and additional files can be deleted from the Program Files\Common Files\SunnComm Shared\ directory. To determine if MediaMax is installed on a Windows PC, one may launch a command prompt, from which theService Control Manager Service Control Manager (SCM) is a special system process under the Windows NT family of operating systems, which starts, stops and interacts with Windows service processes. It is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32\services.exe executable. Service ...can be queried. The command to test this issc query sbcphid
. If installed,sc stop sbcphid
will halt the service, andsc delete sbcphid
will prevent it from automatically starting on subsequent reboots. Once installed, the MediaMax software looks for awatermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...inside all raw CD audio to recognize protected content. If the software detects protected audio, it distorts the audio to prevent unauthorized copying. The watermark works by setting a sequence of low order bits to 1. This makes the watermark very brittle, and it will be defeated by most transformations of the audio, including converting it to MP3 and back. When the MediaMax software is functioning as designed, it allows copying to a certain extent. Compressed audio is stored on the disc inWindows Media Audio Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The or ...(WMA) files. The following activities are allowed: Copying tracks to the hard drive for playback without the original CD, burning up to three copies of the CD, and sharing email links to DRM-protected tracks that expire after ten days. Finally, tracks may be downloaded to DRM-enabled portable players.
See also
*List of compact discs sold with MediaMax CD-3 The following compact discs were sold with a software package for copy-protection known as MediaMax CD-3, created by SunnComm and used by the record label RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music E ...*Extended Copy Protection Extended Copy Protection (XCP) is a computer software, software package developed by the British company First 4 Internet (which on 20 November 2006, changed its name to Fortium Technologies Ltd) and sold as a copy protection or digital rights man ...*Cactus Data Shield Cactus Data Shield (CDS) is a form of CD/DVD copy protection for audio compact discs developed by Israeli company Midbar Technologies. It has been used extensively by EMI (subsequently acquired by Sony Music) and BMG and their subsidiaries. CDS reli ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
CD DRM: Attacks on Disc Recognition
"Lessons from the Sony CD DRM Episode"
(PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...format), byJ. Alex Halderman J. Alex Halderman (born January 1981) is professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he is also director of the Center for Computer Security & Society. Halderman's research focuses on computer security a ...andEdward Felten Edward William Felten (born March 25, 1963) is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he was also the Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy from 2007 to 2015 and fr ..., February 14, 2006 Compact Disc and DVD copy protection Digital rights management for Windows Digital rights management for macOS