| Singles no. 1's |
| US |
Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera
Moves Like Jagger |
| UK |
Sac Noel
Loca People |
| AU |
Gotye & Kimbra
Somebody That I Used To Know |
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| 31-12-01 |
DVD players bypass Cactus Datashield protection
According to research the Cactus Datashield protection can be bypassed with the right DVD player. It has turned out that some DVD drives see through Midbar Tech's copy protection. The drives don't see the files CDS installs on the audio CD, nor are they confused by the table of contents tweaking done by the CDS. |
| 20-12-01 |
Universal next to release copy-protected CD’s
Universal’s release of the soundtrack "Fast & Furious -- More Music" can not be copied onto another CD or PCs to the digital MP3 format by consumers. The album contains copy-protection technology that will also make the CD unplayable on Macintosh computers, DVD players and game consoles. Universal Music aims to become the most aggressive in its anti-piracy efforts, saying that all of its CD’s will be copy-protected by mid-2002. |
| 01-12-01 |
US music labels release copy protected CDs from this month on
The music industry is taking away the ability to make personal copies of a CD for car stereos or portable MP3 music players, because they are afraid that their titles are shared for free on the Internet. CD cases in future will carry a copy protection sticker and an insert explaining the technology. Record stores will accept returns if buyers are unhappy with it, even if the CD case is opened. The major labels' first protected music CD will be on the market in the US in December but they are surrounding themselves with mystery about the used technology. The labels have been testing the technology in Europe. Most releases have been secret, with no disclosure to buyers. |
| 03-10-01 |
Latest 'N Sync CD used as copy protection experiment by Sony
The music industry is testing different copy protection systems on mass market CD's, with copies of 'N Sync's latest album "Celebrity" being sold in at least three different versions. Those available in Germany have draconian protection, a slightly weaker system is used on the US disk and there is no protection on the UK version. The only visible clue is small print on the German album which warns that the CD is not playable on computers. The UK Campaign for Digital Rights, says that the record companies are using customers' money to fund their own experiments, by randomly testing different systems onto the market. Sony presses the German disk at its DADC factory in Austria which also developed the key2audio system used to protect promotional copies of Michael Jackson's latest single. All three 'N Sync discs appear to play on consumer CD players, though Super Audio CD players take around 30 seconds to recognize the German version. Both the UK and US versions will play on a
Windows PC and both let a PC CD burner make a copy onto a blank CD. However, the German version does not play on a Windows PC, which means that users cannot listen to music on their computer and it also cannot be copied to blank CD or sent over the internet using a PC. |
| 29-09-01 |
Universal to add copy protection to its CD's
Universal Music Group has announced plans to further copy-protect its music. By the end of the year, all Universal CD's will contain technology that will prevent users from copying music onto their computer hard drives. The company will begin using the technology in October. Apparently, the new CD's will still be playable in computers' CD drives. |
| 08-09-01 |
Lawsuit against digital copyright-protection on CD's
A California woman has filed a lawsuit against an independent record label for using technology in CD's that blocks people from listening to songs on a computer. The suit alleges that Fahrenheit Entertainment misled consumers by failing to include an adequate disclaimer on CD's encoded with digital copyright-protection software. The lawsuit says that the protected album, "Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves," does not offer a disclaimer that it will not operate on computer CD players. It also requires a consumer to register personal information in a proprietary website before downloading the songs onto a computer, raising privacy concerns, the suit says. |
| 06-09-01 |
Bertelsmann to use Cactus Data Shield for copy protection
Bertelsmann has signed a deal with Israeli security company Midbar to use their Cactus Data Shield protection. Bertelsmann will use Midbar's technology, called Cactus Data Shield, to make it impossible for potential pirates to illegally reproduce music. The technology will be used in three versions. Albums containing CDS-100 can only be listened to via traditional CD players, while those with CDS-200 can be played on CD players and PCs. The third version, CDS-300, can be played on both types of devices and also lets people download music stored on the CD to a computer hard drive. The question however remains for how long the protection measures will hold, as earlier versions of Cactus have already been cracked. |
| 08-08-01 |
Traditional CD's challenged by new recording format
A new music recording format is set to challenge traditional CD's and has the size of a US 25-cent piece. InterTrust and DataPlay have developed the new format, which should secure both prerecorded and blank music audio discs. Experts don’t expect that the new disc will soon replace the CD. The new media can hold up to 11 hours of MP3s or nearly a dozen prerecorded albums with a 500 MB capacity for each disc. Consumers will need to buy new devices, expected to cost between US$199 and $299, to play the new audio discs. The discs will be available both blank and prerecorded, with blank discs costing between $5 and $10 and prerecorded prices comparable to current CD prices. Samsung and Toshiba are two of the companies developing devices using DataPlay's discs and music companies Vivendi Universal, EMI and BMG will provide content for DataPlay. |
| 01-08-01 |
BMG testing new CD copy-protection technology
After some record companies admitted to use SafeAudio as a new protection that should disable consumers from ripping CD's to MP3 files, now BMG is introducing another technology called MediaCloQ that has been developed by a company called SunnComm. It seems to be using the same technique as SafeAudio. BMG Entertainment said that it will work with security technology provider SunnComm to create copy-protected CD’s, one of a growing number of efforts by the record labels to combat alleged Internet piracy at the source. Under the deal BMG will use the SunnComm developed technology, called MediaCloQ, which prevents people from being able to "rip" songs directly from a CD onto a computer. BMG said that it is still testing the technology and is starting to implement it on promotional CD’s. |
| 25-07-01 |
Safeaudio CD protection "cracked"
Recently TTR Technologies & Macrovision have introduced the Safeaudio CD protection, which should provide effective protection against unauthorized Audio CD copying or ripping of songs. But it seems that there is a simple solution to avoid the protection by using the Alternate CDFS.VXD. Apparently, the "old" piece of software works perfectly ripping WAV's directly from Safeaudio protected CD's. The Alternate CDFS.VXD was a replacement for the Win9x CDFS.VXD driver two years ago, which made it possible to show audio CD's as WAV files with different qualities. |
| 02-07-01 |
Hewlett-Packard ordered to pay CD burner fees in Germany
A German court has ordered Hewlett-Packard to pay fees on all compact disc burners sold in the country over the last three years in an attempt to fight music piracy. Although an amount has yet to be determined, Hewlett-Packard offered to pay $1.62 for each unit sold in the last three years and $5.40 for each one sold in the future. The fee should compensate musicians whose music is being illegally downloaded from the internet using CD burners. |
| 25-06-01 |
Roland releases new phrase sampler
This latest Roland release is the SP 303 in the Boss range, which is a small formed phrase sampler designed for use by musicians and DJ’s. The new sampler features an increase in maximum sampling frequency to 44.1kHz, a doubling of polyphony to eight voices (four stereo), an increase in the number of effects to 26 and an all-new 7,500-note pattern sequencer for the creation of complete songs. For more info surf to www.roland.co.uk. |
| 02-05-01 |
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New Lexicon effects processor
Lexicon's range of effects processors has been extended with the MPX200. The new equipment offers the same reverbs and multi-effects, alongside a new digital compressor, which can be used simultaneously with any of the 240 effects presets, allowing up to two effects plus compression in dual-channel mode. The MPX200 also offers more editing abilities than the MPX100. For more information surf to www.lexicon.com/mpx200. |
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| 18-04-01 |
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New Rode microphones
Rode are looking to take low-cost mics up a level, pitching the NT1000 and NTK up against two microphones from the Neumann brand. The NT1000 is a large-diaphragm condensor mic, and features a gold plated membrane, low-noise transformer-less circuitry, internal shock-mounted capsule and a fixed cardioid polar pattern. The NTK, though visually very similar, is a valve mic and features a large 1" capsule with hand picked twin triode valves and a dedicated power supply. More information at www.rodemicrophones.com. |
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| 13-04-01 |
New Alesis signal processors
Alesis have introduced two new signal processors: the CLX-440 compressor/limiter/expander and the PEQ-450 parametric equalizer. Both processors use digital signal processing, yet offer traditional analog-style control. The CLX-440 provides separate compression and expansion sections for each stereo channel, and also includes a side-chain. The compression section includes continuously-variable soft/hard knee and peak/RMS controls and with this being a digital signal processor users can use the preview feature to enable the unit to better respond to transients. The PEQ-450, is a dual-stereo, fully parametric EQ, offering up to 18dB of cut and boost between 20-20,000Hz, continuously variable Q, high and low shelving, high and low pass filters and input/output metering. The product also features a special chain mode, which allows all 10 bands of EQ to be linked together to process two stereo signals simultaneously. For more information surf to www.alesis.com. |
| 05-03-01 |
New products from Native Instruments
Reaktor 3.0 is a modular software program that offers synthesis, sampling, and effects processing. New additions to version 3.0 include a redesigned user interface, many new modules (including a new granular synthesis module), support for Akai sample format and mp3 playback. Native’s Battery provides software sampling and has been specifically designed for drum and percussion sampling. It offers 54 sample slots, each with up to 128 velocity layers. Sound shaping options are built into every sample slot, including an FX loop, volume envelope, pitch envelope, bit-reduction and dynamics shaping. The third product from Native Instruments is Tracktor, a music playback and performance tool for Windows, created especially for computer-based DJ’s. Tracktor incorporates all features of a regular MP3 or WAVE player, plus extensive beat recognition features, a complete mixer section with EQ and a bandpass/notch filter. More information is available at www.native-instruments.com.
Dbx release new channel processor
Dbx have released a new Silver Series 376 Channel Processor. The 376 features all the of a single-channel voice processor, plus a few extras. The package offers +48v phantom power, low-cut filtering and a phase invert switch. The compressor section offers either hardknee or dbx's proprietary Overeasy option, with variable compression ratio and program-dependant attack, whilst a 3-band parametric EQ and a de-esser round off the unit. For more on the new processor, goto www.dbxpro.com/376.htm. |
| 12-02-01 |
Yamaha release integrated sampling sequencer
Yamaha's new RS7000 Integrated Sampling Sequencer should make making dance music easy by combining a synth section, good sampling capabilities, extensive sequencing options, and various effects in one piece of hardware. The RS7000's the synth section uses a 62-voice AWM2 tone generator, featuring over 1,000 onboard ROM-based synth voices and 63 drum kit sounds. Also, six types of filter are included. The RS7000 incorporates up to 64Mb of sampling memory, with 4Mb coming with the machine as standard. Up to 256 samples can be accomodated, and samples can be imported from a wide range of supported sample formats (A3000/4000, SU700, Akai, WAV, AIFF etc). |
| 08-01-01 |
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New Steinberg software sampler
Steinberg have released their new software sampler, named Halion. The software features support for 32-bit sampling, a 24db filter, sample-accurate timing and pitch and modulation effects. Halion features 2 LFO's and 2 envelopes, along with Notch, Hi-pass, Lo-pass, and Band-pass filters. The integrated loop editor offers cross-fading and tuning options and the virtual keyboard screen allows samples to previewed quickly and easily. Check out www.steinberg.net for more details. |
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