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HECK NO!!! DON'T LET THEM OFF THAT LIGHTLY!!!

What would happen if I came to take your house and decided to let you have half back in compensation?

SONY IS GARBAGE, DON'T BUY SQUAT FROM THEM UNTIL THEY OVERHAUL THEIR MUSIC DIVISION AND SUPPORT iTUNES JAPAN and ELSEWHERE!!!

Stupid a$$ess.

I agree, my boycott will continue indefinitely, this action was well planned to start the ball rolling in us accepting these root-kits as normal in anticipation of even more stringent DRM schemes.

You'll see when the MacTels arrive...

MacDailyNews is correct to lift their boycott. You shouldn't start adding reasons to continue a boycott when the reason for the boycott has been addressed. That said, of course, it's up to each individual to do what they think is best.

Remember: wait for Sony's PlayStation 3. Vote NO on Microsoft's Xbox!

Microsoft makes Sony look positively angelic.

SONY BlueRay DVD drives supposely has a DRM scheme so tough that it verifies your drive, DVDs and other media over the internet. If it finds a discrepency or if a error occurs a drive disable feature is enabled.

Don't buy SONY until they become more consumer friendly.

chill out MacDude and MacDude alias MacAnimal! They took it off! This is awesome! They're likely not to repeat a DRM move which will take away ability to put stuff on an iPod. We won.

Sony is being rediculous with the whole iTunes Japan/Australia, but can you blame them? That was there last stronghold for online music.

Chill out... we just won, and, ummm, Sony has some pretty sweet products. I wish Apple would come out with a sub-notebook.

It was me saying I had decided not to buy 5 cams for my kids ha ha. Perhaps I should hold out until the see the itunes light

Sony blows. I can easily find a substitute for their products! What they have been doing to Apple is unforgiving. When you live by the sword you must die by the sword.

'The continued chasing of copyright protection technology is like chasing the white whale,' Leigh said. 'It's an obsession that destroys the people obsessed by it.

Now here is a guy who knows what he's talking about. Sony did shoot themselves in the foot by trying to hard to protect there media and now they really hurt there reputation and people will be weary about buying CD's with the Sony BMG label on it. Especially around the holidays.

Consumer,

Let me come and smack you around and then apologize five minutes later and see how you feel.

SONY got rootkits installed on millions of machines, including Mac's and we are supposed to just say "That's ok Sony, we'll let you off the hook"

Those ba$tards knew exactly what they were doing, don't think for a minute they weren't.

Microsoft has been pulling this "Stockholm Syndrome" abusive effect for years.

Abuse > Apologize > Make Amends > Promise to make it better > Abuse Again.

It's a way to gain a advantage on people through abuse. The answer is if a person or corporation abuses severly like this is to never deal with them again. Either that or your the fool and the victim.

Talk to any abusive spouse in treatment.

I think MDN is lifting the boycott much too soon. Sony's statement makes no reference to the other DRM software they employ, from SunComm which is practically just as malicious and definitely falls under the category of "spyware."

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=925

What few people realize is that Sony uses another copy protection program, SunnComm’s MediaMax, on other discs in their catalog, and that this system presumably is not included in the moratorium. Though MediaMax doesn’t resort to concealing itself with a rootkit, it does behave in several ways that are characteristic of spyware.

...

1. MediaMax installs without meaningful consent or notification

...

2. MediaMax discs include either no uninstaller or an uninstaller that fails to remove major components of the software

....

3. MediaMax transmits information about you to SunnComm without notification or consen

Viewed together, the MediaMax and XCP copy protection schemes reveal a pattern of irresponsible behavior on the parts of Sony and its pals, SunnComm and First4Internet. Hopefully Sony’s promised re-examination of its copy protection initiatives will involve a hard look at both technologies.

Sounds like Sony is putting out a fake apology while continuing to put out malicious DRM that goes by name that isn't "XCP." Furthermore, they never promised they wouldn't do something similar in the future.

Boycott Sony!

no way !

it's an issue of trust for me personally. They have been nothing but deceptive and dismissive about this entire affair.

it will take Sony some time before they can convince me to even consider purchasing or recommending their products.

I say continue the boycott. That letter tries to blame XCP and the outside vendor, First4Net, as if Sony didn't know what was happening. The letter makes it sound like Sony is on the consumer's side, when they are the ones asking for the DRM to be put on in the first place. Sony is not on the consumer's side. Sony needs to step up and take the responsibility and the blame. The lawsuits should continue but if this is Sony's attitude, they are going to set up First4Net to take the fall.

If Sony was truly a Japanese company following Japanese cultural norms, the CEO would've resigned by now in shame.

MacDude,

Consider changing the nickname to White Knight:)

Seriously, they will just fix the protection soft and it will be back soon and nobody can do anything about it. Consumers will forget that incident soon. There will never be free music. Neither there will be an easier to steal music. DRM has only one way to go and that is the way to tougher protection so that when next time labels gonna raise the price nobody would be able to seriously consider blackmailing them be saying smth like "in that case I am going back to P2P.

In brief - u should better apply your energy to earning more money so that you can afford future higher prices:)

I'm still getting a PS3.

Arnold writes

"SONY BlueRay DVD drives supposely has a DRM scheme so tough that it verifies your drive, DVDs and other media over the internet. If it finds a discrepency or if a error occurs a drive disable feature is enabled.

Don't buy SONY until they become more consumer friendly."

This is pretty amazing stuff, if it's true.

Arnold we need verifiable sources for this information. Will this extend to drives in future macs? We need to know this because it may have a bearing on the future purchase of affected computers. Likewise if this is the case I would expect MDN to take a similar stand against such invasive technology. IF THIS IS TRUE!!!

Arnold please get back to us via this website so myself and others can verify or dismiss this assertion.

Kenny,

Whether you boycott Sony or not is up to you and I have no doubt that the PS3 will be one sexy piece of hardware. But given how important this issue is, if you won't boycott Sony products, can you at least consider waiting a few months to buy that PS3?

The problem with big corporations like Sony is that they don't get the message unless there are big economic repercussions, ones that lead to the perpetrators geting fired and drop-kicked out of the company, which allows fair-minded people to establish sensible policies.

So fine, get your PS3. But at least try to send Sony a message by holding off on your purchase and spending that time playing the Xbox 360.

Link here to self destructing BlueRAY DVD drives

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/10/1917210&tid=188&tid=198&tid=126&tid=233

MacMania and his affiliates will continue the boycott of all $ony products.

SONY is out of touch, out of control and out of their minds.

Of course they can recover because they simply are not in touch with their consumers anymore.

Microsoft is totally evil and not to be trusted one bit.

Apple is to be trusted until proven otherwise.

what about the [nausous] MDN mantras regarding the significance of high-quality aesthetic and functional design? sony has lost it all since the 80's/90's when they were the mainsteam king. tv's, stereo components, etc. now samsung tv's ream the wegas (what exactly is a "wega") and everything else looks and works more "asian" than pokemon, even with that brit-fag stringer running the show. the boycott should continue on principal.

Dear Arnold,

Thanks mate. I'll follow this up to the best of my ability

br

Sony only stopped using the XCP "protection" scheme - which does not affect the Mac. They are STILL using the SunnComm (http://www.sunncomm.com) DRM which DOES affect the Mac and, according to numerous security analyst, is as dangerous as the XCP scheme.

It is WAY to early to claim victory and to let Sony (as well as EMI and others) off the hook. They are still intent on DRM and preventing we the consumers from using our fair-rights.

The Media companies are fighting a tide. They should be embracing the new technologies rather than trying to keep things the same as they always were. It won't work. DRM such as Apple introduced is accepted because it is unobtrusive but many people still don't like it and it, as well as every other DRM that I know of, has been cracked in some way or another. Unless the Media Content Producers start to try and find new ways to use the new paradigm to their advantage they will continue to lose money rather than make more.

It took someone with vision like Apple to show them one way that the new technology available today could work. I think ITMS would have been much more of a blow out success if there was no DRM on the content at all. But the record companies insisted and Apple has used that situation to their advantage by locking in the iPod/ITMS combination. I think Apple would have been happy to distribute non-DRM content at the beginning but now I doubt they would give up the advantage that it currently affords them (but then again I am not Steve Jobs and he might see an "outside the box" that most of us cannot).

At any rate, I doubt that the visionless old guard at the Media companies will drop their attempts to DRM things anytime soon so Apple will continue to enjoy their lock in and will continue to use it to their advantage to even further their strength and position. Since Apple generally thinks a lot about what the consumer wants and makes insanely great products this is not necessarily a bad thing. Being a major Apple fan, I love to see them do well so they have more cash and clout to bring us even better solutions that take into account the desires of the consumer.

A tremendous opportunity exists with the extremely low overhead content distribution situation that the internet produced. Unless a Media company has the chutzpah and vision to risk it all and drop the old system and completely dive into the new paradigm, they will continue to lose ground and it will be innovative companies like Apple that has to show them the path.

Let me pose you a hypothetical: If one of the the big Media Content companies like ABC started offering their entire library of content in downloadable format that either you could buy for a nominal fee (1.99 per episode perhaps without commercials, or for free if it came with commercials, how much of a response from the user community do you think they would get? How great of an advantage over the competition do you think this would afford them?

MW = ideas

Oh, and in the above hypothetical, I don't think it would matter much if they DRMed the content or not. If the content was available for free (albeit with commercials) most people would not go to the trouble of hacking it or cracking the DRM themselves or trying to find the same content in a DRM-less version on the peer to peer file swapping networks. Why bother if it is free and it is easy to get from a legitimate and easy to use central clearing house location? If you really want to avoid the commercials, pay the two bucks and avoid the risk of getting a virus with the download. And if most people would not bother trying to get the content in a DRM-less version somewhere else, why bother DRMing it in the first place?

Arnold --

A phone home Blu-Ray DVD player will have a hell of a time succeeding in the marketplace. As soon as someone's legitimate disc can't be verified and won't play, everyone everywhere will start screaming. And as for a player that "self-destructs", so to speak -- no fscking way. That will NEVER succeed in the American marketplace.

Just as DIVX players lost out to DVD players, so too will anything that requires any sort of "verification". The market always knows best.

I'd advise everyone to remain vigilant about this, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

MacDailyNews and iPodDailyNews are no longer boycotting Sony products

Your choice; I know what I'm gonna do. This could only be the tip of the gigantic iceberg of spyware that SONY is building underwater for a range of hardware. Nothing but a thorough change in their philosophy and Privacy Policy would move me. I hope someone better qualified than meself takes a look at the self-destructing code for Blu-ray drives or any such crap.

MW: "future" as in: NOT YET.

screw them. they need to be punicshed for pulling that crap to the point where they will not do it again.

They'll not get a dime from me, nor will i buy music of Sony artists.

The SunnComm DRM will be on ALL Sony-BMG titles released in 2006. This malware affects Macintosh OS as well as Windoze PCs. If the public does not keep the pressure on they will simply replace one onerous DRM scheme with an even worse one.

During our weekly family conference call, six siblings, we all decided not to purchase any Sony products this Christmas. All because of DRM Sony pulled Sony will loose about $20,000 worth of sales within our six familys alone. Plus we are informing our friends and other relatives as well.

This is going to be a heavy tech christmas for our families because we all need to upgrade so many things; we were going to purchase Sony but not now. Anymore we just don't trust Sony.

Continue the boycott. This a chance for we the consumers to let the record companies know that we will not tolerate copy-protected music discs no matter who issues them.

CONTINUE THE BAN!!

Even if they do issue proper software to remove XCP from ALL systems, there should still be a grace period till we lift the ban.

NewType...
Screw the Xbox 360. I can't afford both. But you are right and I am in no hurry to get the PS3, I'll spend a bit of time playing around with the display models in the shops while waiting for the price to drop. It's the same with the iPods, better to wait a few months (or eight weeks if it sounds quicker) to see if any problems arise with the product.
And yes I will be boycoting SONY products from now on. Sanyo, Sharp, Panasonic, Hitachi etc etc even cheapie TEAC all have similar products. But the PS3 will be unique and unfortunatley, SONY has us by the balls on that one.

How many of us have crappy old obsolete PCs lying around that we wouldn't mind having XCP installed on? Just use the old bomby PCs to try and rip these Sony CDs and keep it well isolated from your main system.
And once succesfully ripped and stripped of all DRM. Take the CDs back to the store and demand a refund telling them it farked your PC. And then share it with the rest of us. It only takes one person in the world to start sharing these copy protected discs and the whole Sony DRM idea becomes meaningless.

Don't but SONY tv's! They have hidden pinhole cameras in the speakers witch transmit live video feeds of yourself tossing off to porn. I think it gets sent to gay websites.

Kenny, you've definitely earned my respect.

continue the boycott!

George,
It is too complicated what u suggest. The absolutely same result may be achieved if u just rob any Sony retail store. Plus [if lucky] u may get through this not only some CDs but also some other valuable stuff. In the long run boycott means "not buying" and obviously does not cover stealing.

Continue with the ban until all CDs have been pulled and eaten by SONY executives, all consmers with infected machines have been taken care of and all MAC DRM CDs have been also pulled. We sholdn't pull the plug until they clean up the mess.

Just remember, SONY isn't the only record company out there using or planning to use DRM schemes to protect their profits, so lets make sure that the others remember this.

MDNW: always Always finish what you start

 
The rape of Nanking happened and not accidently.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

And the want Okinawa back, too.

Continue the ban!

Forgiveness is a good thing. When Sony has made amends for the damage they have done, it will be time for each individual to determine whether to again accept Sony as a legitimate vendor.

To me, making amends requires:
- Admitting they made a mistake, without attempting to justify it
- Reversing the trouble they caused: recalling the disks, replacing
those in buyers' hands, making easy-to-use removal tools readily
available (to the point of mailing CDs to those who have no
Internet connection), and reimbursing people for extraordinary
expense
- Explaining what the copy protection mechanisms were supposed to
do on both Windows and Mac systems

Until these happen, I shall consider Sony unrepentant. When all these are accomplished, I will once more consider buying Sony equipment.

jim

what the hell is this ban supposed to achieve? as if anybody cares about this pathetic site's boycott. MDN is taking itself too seriously

MDN word: fuck
As in 'fuck MDN'

KEEP THE BOYCOTT ON ALL NON RED BOOK COMPLIANT CDS!!!!

until we get non copy protected cds that can easily be played on our iPods and do not install software on our computers I will not be happy. I buy cds to listen to music and do not expect it to start altering or potentially damaging my private property. Period.

Magic Word: "Feel" as in "can you feel the heat"

Lets wake the sleeping giant

Somebody try put crap on my Mac, BOYCOT THEM FOR EVER.
They allready doing stuff with PlayStation 3.
Cartrige will get married to the first playstation played on.

Read : http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27568

what the hell is this ban supposed to achieve?

Send a strong message to companies that they should respect consumer rights. SONY thinks it can break your private property [PC] or degrade its performance just to protect their rights - some kind of vigilante justice. They did it in a covert, misleading way.

APPLE, in contrast, took great pains to explain its DRM scheme when iTMS was launched, and the iTMS is a success while SONY's fatally flawed [ATRAC] Connect languishes. So what does SONY do? Screw their artists by denying them space in iTMS!

What do you expect us to do when you screw your customers and your artists? Producing great products is not enough. I will not be swayed by nothing less than a demonstrated turnaround in this company's philosophy. SONY, you're screwed.

As Java says, and I'm paraphrasing…

No Compact Disc Audio logo - no sale.

And I apply that simple rule to all releases. It means I haven't bought a disc in a good long while.

I already have around 800 discs and a collection that could play for over 28 days non-stop, so I still have music, so I'm not really losing out but I know who is.

What boycott? Who listens to MDN????

What a load of crap!

Sony's initial response to this problem was "What's the big deal, nobody knew it was there until now anyway?"

This is just PR spin to make them look like it was all First4Internet's fault. Hey, we just bought copy protection software from them. We didn't know what it was going to do. Blame them. Start buying our CD's again.

Let Sony rot!

Dukester

Has anyone yet established what the Suncomm DRM does to a Mac? OK, you need to let it in there by clicking the EULA and using an admin password, so you've been socially engineered if you let it in, but what do the two little programs actually do? Do they limit your access to or ability to media shift all the material on the disc, or only the "enhanced" (e.g usually video) tracks? Do they sit as an ordinary app, and can they be trivially (and completely) uninstalled? Do they phone home? Do they start up anytime you start your Mac, or only when you use the CD-drive?

To the extent that they affect non-audio tracks, phone home or start on boot, they are spyware/malware, and need to be rejected just as formly as the other DRM rubbish.

boycott!

until ps3 comes out.