Sony replaces XCP CDs, and throws in some MP3s as well
posted November 19th 2005 6:30PM
You've gotta give Sony some credit for finally coming clean on the whole
rootkit issue. Well, really, you don't
have to give Sony credit for a darn thing, but Sony wants to give you some stuff if you were unfortunate
enough to purchase one of their XCP coded CDs. First off
they'll ship you a DRM-free CD (just like mama used to make) to replace your current rootkit laden copy, and they'll
pay for postage both ways. But since that'll take a few weeks, they're also offering up an authorization code when you
submit for the replacement disc, allowing MP3 downloads of the album to give you something to listen to in the interim.
No word on the bitrate for these files, but we're not expecting any DRM since there isn't really a way to copy-protect
an MP3 without disabling playback in current players, and we're guessing that they really don't want to go there. For
now.
[Via TechDirt]
Sony ruled the portable player world in the 80's... your sony boom box could dub casettes and you could play them on your walkman... you could even record from the radio to cassetes
now look at the crap sony is doing... HAHAHAHAHAHA... i hope apple learns from them...
a little late sony! this is what you should have done in the first place and not treat all us consumers like crooks. i respect your right to protect your products but NOT at the cost on my machines and network. shame on you sony.
wg
that was spose to say "not at the cost OF my machines"
sorry all
wg
Its too late for sony.
We know they're sneaky pigs now.
It needs to be remembered that Sony still is using another form of DRM which has its own problems. They haven't backed off the statement that all of their music will have some form of DRM in 2006.
It will be interesting to see if the replacement discs are real CDs (eg ... cleartext) or will have another form of DRM.
The right choice for consumers is to *only* by DRM-free content to send a message to the providers before it is too late.
Sony has so dramatically damaged the public trust that many of us will not buy anything from Sony - a total boycottt.
"You’ve gotta give Sony some credit for finally coming clean on the whole rootkit issue."
What am I supposed to give them credit for?
a) Doing what they should have done in the first place?
b) Fixing a problem that never should have existed and that they themselves created?
Those are really the only two choices.
I give people/companies credit when they go above and beyond the call of duty. In this case, Sony screwed up and they only did what was right after being dragged kicking and screaming into acknowledging their mistake. This is not worthy of credit.
When somebody does their job properly, you give them a pat on the back. When somebody does more than you could ever ask them to, you give them credit. When somebody makes a huge mistake that costs the company millions of dollars, opens them up to lawsuits, and exposes hundreds of thousands of computers to viruses, then says people shouldn't care because "most people don't know what a rootkit is anyway", then only after getting a lot of bad PR does the thing they should have been doing anyway, they don't deserve credit, they deserve to be *fired* as an example to those that follow them.
If, instead of simply replacing CD's with "real" CD's and the MP3's people are just going to rip anyway Sony had said "and for your trouble, we'll give you all new computers so you can be sure there's no security issue caused by our software", *then* I would give them credit. That would be more than they were required to do.
But simply doing what they were required to do in the first place only after they got caught with their pants down and took a drubbing in the press? No, they don't deserve any credit at all. They still deserve to be raked over the coals. Don't let them off easy; that only encourages other companies who you know are trying the exact same sorts of things right now.
Boycott Sony, Thats the only way, or email them. Contact Sony and tell them what you think. Tell other people that sony is installing spyware on computers.
If we dont get the word out, they will just keep getting worse and worse.
The More they lie to us, the more I want to steal from them.
FF SONY
like.no.other
WTH did my comment go? Hmm...
I agree with just about everyone here. I originally said, "Does it seem to anyone else like the Engadget editors have come off as very pro-Sony during this entire debacle?"
Wonder what happened to it.
They didn't say they would replacing the CDs with DRM-free versions. They said they would replace them with no XCP content protection. That doesn't mean they would be DRM-free.
#10 Yeah, I'm sure the big crossed out DRM is Pro-Sony, Smack...No...Must not insult.
This is a great thing for them to do though, they are indeed Sneaky Pigs, thing is, pissed off consumers tend to take the form of the Crafty Butcher.
Personally I think they can shove their DRM and Blu-ray bullshit right up their tight asses. Sony used to be the shining example for how to make things enjoyable to the end user, but now they are little more then a spoiled fat kid hogging all the good toys and whining 'MINE! MINE!' at the top of their lungs. Then again, they already hit my last nerve when my beautiful new PSP turned out to be a 250 dollar dead pixel mine field.
In mild defense of both Engadget and Sony (don't worry I'll bash SONY in second...) I think I get where they're comming from. Sony COULD have simply refused to back off. It would have been corporate hara-kiri, but sony has displayed sufficient insanity in the past to make that a very real posibility. I think the 'credit' Engadget was talking about was more akin to credit for having enough sense to FINALLY see which way the wind was blowing before they f'd up any further on this issue.
But as "Jeff" said (quite articulaltely too I might add) they don't deserve any kind of PRAISE for backpeddling on this issue as they're only doing it to save their hides, not to protect our fun or investments in their products...
Multiple ironys in this whole debacle too I might add. This assinine root kit of theirs was ultimately designed to thwart piracy, much of which involves MP3's, which sony themselves are now distributing. Kinda nice to see sony show themselves to be the biggest pirates/theif in this whole DRM/piracy Cat-and-Mouse game in such a humiliating fashion.
And at that, the MP3's themselves are a crackup. What gives Sony ? You don't think ATRACs will appease your (riteously) enraged customers ?
Last but not least, it is such a crack up that it's the people who actually took their hard earned scrilla and paid for the physical discs like good little boys and girls that got punished. So basically sony is sending out the message that even if we LEGITAMITELY acquire sony content their gonna screw us over anyway to ensure their profitability. What a wonderful incentive to stop pirating and go legit. Free viruses and root kits with every purchase...
Simply hilarious...
.
Sony sucks. I used to be a Sony fan, purchased several TVs and a couple of camcorders, VCRs, etc. It started when they tried to jam the memorystick POS down our throats, now this. They're losing the TV biz because they clung to CRTs too long. I'm done with Sony, period.
.
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It's a nice gesture that they are now shipping out non XCP CD's but, in the meantime, can I also send the bill to repair my computer that was infected by a virus via their DRM software?
Revrant,
Check out http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000650066981/ At best it shows ignorance as to the real issue, and many of the comments to that article agree. I think most agree that this is one of the few class actions (hmm, does the DRM scratch too easily, too?) that has some real merit.
#17 Oi... Why do I refrain from reading the majority of comments?
Quote - "way to lick Jobs' bunghole on that one"
Things like that, always with some disgusting Ass-oriented thing to say, it's not like "Kiss their ass" or "Bend over and take it!" or something, it's always got to be *descriptively disgusting*. I'm in awe at how many commenters here shift from being Prude Grammar Snobs to using language to vile affect, there's just no freggin' middleground most of the time, guh.
Anyhow, they still slapped up that Crossed out DRM, and we all know how much Engadget loves to use the little visual to inspire big feelings with what they're posting on, though I agree the attitude there was somewhat Snobbish, but I don't see anyone(But me) bitching whenever EG goes off on an Apple Ass-Kissing contest, so meh.
Maybe the other companies that are considering such draconian measures will learn from Sony's mistakes.
Revrant,
You focus a lot on that DRM image, but there's just as good an argument that it's merely a descriptive label of what's going on - customers getting pissed at DRM - rather than any editorial take EG makes. After all, shouldn't the actual words and the attitude they espouse be what we judge an article by?
I'll also point to the fact that most sites use such boilerplate images: /. uses the same Gates-borg and Broken-Windows images for any story about Microsoft, even if the story is positive.
Sucking up to Apple is qualitatively different - for one, there's a lot of confusion and a general lack of information regarding most of the lawsuits they've been involved in lately (some people have scratched ipods, many others don't), and either way, Apple isn't making ipods that way in some kind of entitled breach-of-duty, taking-control-of-your-computer-without-ever-telling-you, being-defensive-and-unapologtic-about-it-after-getting-caught kind of way. Once they take that stand, then you'd have an analogous argument.
Look at the comments here and in the other EG article I linked to above - almost everyone who has commented on the editorial slant of EG has recognized the same thing.
When Hollywood Sony execs no longer make decisions about Sony hardware, Sony will return to greatness. Problem is, that'll never happen.
Which is why Sony is no longer the leader...