[luau] NEWS: New Copyprotected CD's destroy iMacs

[Warren Togami]

Can you say outrage?

http://www.macuser.co.uk/macsurfer/php3/openframe.php3?page=/newnews/newsart
icle.php3?id=1990

An Apple dealer has 'confirmed' to the Campaign for Digital Rights (CDR)
that attempting to play the latest Celine Dion CD in a new iMac will result
in the machine having to be sent for repair.
As we reported last month, Celine's latest offering - A New Day Has Come -
features copy-protection to prevent it being played and duplicated in a PC,
and that same copy-protection was believed to be capable of damaging the
PC's firmware. It seems that this is definitely the case, as once the CD is
inserted into a new iMac it cannot be removed and the machine cannot be
restarted.

This may not be the only CD which could cause the problems. CDR reports that
a number of CDs from Sony-owned companies such as Epic and Columbia may also
pose a threat. These include the soundtrack for Star Wars Episode II and
discs from Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Destiny's Child. The CDs carry a
small warning stating 'Will not work on PC/Mac'.

CDR continues to compile a lengthening list of copy-protected CDs and though
not all of them will damage your Mac, some are reported as delivering poor
quality sound when played 'legitimately' in hi-fi equipment.

.....

Further bad news in Slashdot comments:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=32567&cid=3514269
 "Apple designs its CD drives to support media that conforms to such
standards. Apple computers are not designed to support copyright protected
media that do not conform to such standards. Therefore, any attempt to use
non standard discs with Apple CD drives will be considered a misapplication
of the product. Under the terms of Apple's One-Year Limited Warranty,
AppleCare Protection Plan, or other AppleCare agreement any misapplication
of the product is excluded from Apple's repair coverage. "

So not only is the computer broken because you didn't see the fine print and
tried to play a cd in it, but you have to pay for the repairs.