Are Some Discs Un-Rippable (DRM)?

[S-Man]

I have a disc which has thwarted many attempts to rip it:
Shelby Lynne - Suit Yourself

I have tried EAC in E2 mode and in secure mode as well as CDEx, both will produce WAV files but state that there is a synch error at 99.9% of every track. The resulting wav files playback with chunks of sound with the timing all messed up.

When the CD is interted in the drive it autostarts with a custom window and there are optons to make a backup copy or save to hard drive. When saving to hard drive the only files formats offered are WMA, lossless and compressed - at various bit rates.

I believe SB3 does not support lossless WMA files. Although even if I use a compressed WMA my SB does not find the songs.

I want to use FLAC and I don't want to use any lossy format, but at the moment I cannot even play this disc at all via the SB.

Can anyone help me?

[ceejay]

Not familiar with that particular disc ... I managed to rip most of the "protected" discs that I have, though a couple have defeated me.

A good first step is to disable autorun on the drive you are going to use for ripping - it will stop the CD from infecting your PC by installing software you don't want. Alternatively remember to press "shift" when loading the CD.

You are correct that Slimserver won't read DRM'ed WMA files.

You could try some other rippers (search the internet for people that have found particular strategies that work for this CD).

Or if your PC has an SPDIF output you might be able to rip it lossless, play digital out and capture digital in and get an uninfected lossless result.

If it was a new CD you'd just bought you could also return it to the shop as defective (especially if they sold it as a "CD" when it clearly fails to meet the CD standard).

Ceejay

[S-Man]

I had a look round the www and found that there are lots of programs that claim to rip anything, but most cost money and there is no guarantee of success.

The really frustrating thing is that I originally borrowed this disc from a friend and rather than making (an illegal) copy I went out and paid good money for it. To find now (3 months) later that I cannot use it with my SB (bought 1 month ago) is very annoying. I would certainly send it back as defective (i.e. not red book standard) if I still had the receipt.

At least it looks like my other Shelby Lynne disc - "I am Shelby Lynne" - does not appear to be copy protected.

[erland]

Have you tried burst mode in EAC ?

[Patrick Dixon]

I've ripped quite a few disks and not had one I couldn't do so far (damaged ones excepted), so if you are still stuck in a couple of weeks I can give it a try here.

[Mark Lanctot]

Some discs with those autostart programs install something on your PC. Hopefully Sony learned their lesson with this (I doubt it) but this should not be happening anymore - you should at least be informed there is software being installed on your PC. If there has been software installed, unfortunately, it may be causing these problems.

So disable autorun.

Also, start EAC first, THEN load the disc using EAC's "eject/load" icon. When EAC is running, it will prevent any exectution of programs on the disc.

[Havoc]

Don't you have to hold the "shift" key to prevent auto-loading when inserting a CD?

[Skunk]

Don't you have to hold the "shift" key to prevent auto-loading when inserting a CD?

There is a registry edit for permenant change. You'd have to search google for the particular key.

[S-Man]

Many thanks everyone - with your help I now have this CD ripped, FLACed and playing via the SB.

For the benefit of others who may be trying to solve the problem:
1/ Use windows explorer to find the "uninstall software" icon on the actual CD, click this and uninstall the software that the evil dictators of DRM put on your pc without your knowledge or consent the 1st time you put the disc in the CD drive!
2/ Exactly as Mark Lanctot describes start EAC before closing the CD drawer, then use EAC's icon to close the drawer (ensure EAC's option to disable Autorun is checked before-hand).
3/ Rip as normal (I used burst mode, although I think it will most likely work in any mode and I will revert to secure mode for "normal" cd ripping).

Let's face it, copy protection like this won't stop criminals, it just annoys genuine users like myself and makes me think twice about buying their (in this case EMI) products again.

Patrick - thanks for the kind offer.

[mrfantasy]

I have no unrippable discs in Linux. The worst disc I had in Windows was Sarah McLachlan's "Afterglow Live" and that rips fine in Linux since the copy protection software is Windows only.

In fact, most copy protected CDs rip fine on a Mac too.

[adamslim]

Let's face it, copy protection like this won't stop criminals, it just annoys genuine users like myself and makes me think twice about buying their (in this case EMI) products again.

Lots of people who work in record companies don't seem to understand this. Keep saying it! We users are reasonable, we just want to listen to music! Make it easy for us!