...could it be? ...another reason Coldplay bites!

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Merlin

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Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head

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About 3 weeks ago my g/f comes past my place with her Coldplay CD - genuine, before you ask.

It has some BS copy protection on it which won't allow it to play in her car deck, so she asks me to copy it onto a blank disc to see if that might help.

I put the disc into my PC and immediately this 'player' pops up...built-in to the CD to let the owner play it on a computer if you don't have a media player already.

I close it, and forget about it.

Over the last 3 weeks my PC's been giving me all sorts of hassles. EG: Folder naming errors, and folders I can't delete in the Recycle Bin, odd logfiles and uninstallers in the root, incredibly slow Internet, etc.

I do the usual checks for virii and find nothing. Registry, files modifed/created over the past month, System32 folder, Boot.ini, etc.

I do some Googling and find 2 people with a similiar problem, but nothing confirmed.

Both users run different well-known A/vs, etc. and got nothing.

No A/v descriptions, data, etc. Nothing!

I think back over the last month, and the Coldplay CD is the ONLY data input to my machine that was unchecked, etc.

No dodgy downloads, no errors, no reports, etc.

I close down everything of mine that uses an Internet or network connection.

netstat -a

Almost a dozen IPs are connected to my machine transferring a heap of who knows what between us...

Amazingly there is a logfile in the root detailing what was registered, overwritten, and/or added to my drive by this poS software...

I set up an isolated PC with W2K, copy the files onto USB, and transfer them back to my machine. DLLs, etc.

Overwrite, etc.

Run WindowsUpdate, update the new files, etc. All is now sweet.

The F'ing program cross partitions and caused the same mayhem on my dual-boot partition.

...now to check the networked PCs.

If it is the Coldplay, I will make my name very well known in the papers...

Has anyone else experienced this, or can anyone confirm this with a Coldplay CD on their side?

I can send you the files modified/added, and the logfile if you want - to check. PM me...

Cheers, N.
 
As it so happens, I was just about to put a Coldplay CD into my drive - luckily I saw that it was them just in time, otherwise I might've had to listen to to that woes.

I remember though that there was something funny about the CD the first time I stuck it in a computer. I'll check on my ubuntu at home, I don't want to sacrifice my work computer to those guys...
 
Are these nimrods a SonyBMG title/artist(e)? If so you may be the lucky recipient of a rootkit ..but any which way, this sounds very much like that kind of behaviour. I've had a somewhat similar experience: a Dave Gahan solo project and the latest Depeche Mode audio discs (no, they break the Philips-owned/managed Redbook standard). Both of these discs wanted to launch their own players which I refuse to run ..and then turned out to be utterly unplayable with any of my usual suspects, basically VLC & Winamp.

Take a look at the CD case for the CDDA logo (top RHS image on that wikipedia link), if an audio disc doesn't have that image it's NOT a CD and is likely not playable in the likes of said car deck ..or any PC that's not a Windoze box with a dozy idjit who allows any crap on it driving it. Also look out for a little yellow-triangle graphic (often on the front cover of the case) that warns you of copy protection mechanisms; both of these mean nothing but grief, stress and possibly the FUBARing of your PC and should be avoided. Also see this rant :p
 
Are you able to view the contents of the disc without risking the above?
 
It's my ladyfriend's CD, so I don't have it on me, but I would suspect so...

I heard about the Sony saga a while back and it immediately came to Mind when I madethe connection with the CD...altough I never checked for SonyBMG.

I've just been reading up on those links you posted above bdt, what a shocker! :o

I'm fairly confident I got it sorted, and running another netstat showed that all of the dodgy connections had disappeared, but I'll give the Sysinternals app a go at it tonight just in case...

To the vacuum-filled Morons from the record agencies...F'ing around with the people who do actually buy your overpriced BS is NOT the way to fight Piracy. Idiots.

Omac: I never tried, and don't intend to now. I would imagine it's possible with Autoplay turned OFF.

N.
 
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I have Coldplay X & Y infront of me and I see all the stuff you describe!

"This disc contains Copy Control Technology"

&

"Compatible with CD/DVD-V/DVD-A / SACD Players.........PC MS Windows 95, Pentium 2 233MHz 64MB Ram . MacOS 8.6-9.2+CarbonLib &Mac OSX"


It plays in my car. I recall ripping it to mp3 on my laptop using freerip(I may be wrong there). I still have it on a hard drive in mp3 format!

I have since formated my laptop so no evidence there I'm afraid.

Is it safe to put in my disc drive or not. (Never heard of all this crp before the miserable swines)
 
It's copy protection mechanisms like those that turns people to obtain their songs elsewhere should they want to compile their own CD's with their fave songs.

But back to the topic - as PC user in South Africa, what legal recourse do you have should an program be installed without your permission on your PC, and interferes with your normal day-to-day activities?

IMHO and IANAL : A simple "copyright control program" warning sticker is not enough - they must tell you WHAT will happen and WHY, and HOW you can get rid of it - otherwise it's illegal and constitutes an intrusion on your privacy and computer... am i right?
 
I'd go with 'No' Omac. Trust no-one, suspect everyone. ;)

I couldn't agree more Librarian. They're attacking the wrong people, with the wrong tools.

I find it amazing how the recording industry thinks it can do whatever the *bleep* it likes in order to protect it's inflated profit margin. :(

bdt: I now have, and usually do, but left data Autoplay on, on this partition this time unfortunately.

Sadly it's always when you least expect it...

N.
 
Hey noswal,

I was looking at that earlier, and have downloaded it for use later tonight when I get Home.

I also read up on MS' own patch to the Sony problem on their TechNet site, but they reckon their malicious tool app in the WindowsUpdate now does it - which I downloaded last night.

Thanks, N. :)
 
Mikroz said:
I couldn't agree more Librarian. They're attacking the wrong people, with the wrong tools.
Click to expand...

Yeah... what happened to our right of making a backup copy?

Sod the pirates, I wish they all will go off and get lost in the desert or something...
 
Mikroz said:
I also read up on MS' own patch to the Sony problem on their TechNet site, but they reckon their malicious tool app in the WindowsUpdate now does it - which I downloaded last night.
Click to expand...

I'm a little lazy today Mikroz. Post the link please. ;)
 
A while ago I got an email from SonyBMG that began like this:

If You Bought, Received or Used a SONY BMG Music Entertainment CD Containing Either XCP or Media Max Content Protection Software, Your Rights May Be Affected By a Class Action Settlement, And You Should Download Updates For That Software.

Anyone else receive an email like this.
 
I read that on their site last week after doing some research...

I also 'heard' that you can get your CD replaced - is this true? If so, how?

...and btw, how did you have your email addy for that Alan?

Cheers, N.
 
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