No Copy Protection in Argentinian Dido CDs

I HAVE JUST received from the postman a large package with my order from Tematika.com, an amazon.com wannabe and one of the largest web retailers down here. Inside the box was -- along with other local books you don't want to hear about -- pop crooner Dido's album, "Life for Rent".

And I can report, with a grin on my face, that this CD does NOT include any form of anti-copy measures, as edited locally by BMG Argentina, and apparently "pressed" by local firm "Teltron" which has a cd-manufacturing plant.

Conclusion: unlike what our European readers reported (see here, Nero 6.0's "Disc Information" page showed that this locally-manufactured CD is not of the "mixed mode" data+audio variety. There is no "autorun" folder or any win32 code in there, just regular "cdda" audio tracks.

To confirm this, I was able to rip the cd without any hassle, just like with any other "red book" compliant CD. Local cost was 26.90 pesos which amounts to around 9.08 dollars at today's exchange rate.

This is strange indeed, since in the back of the CD's jewel case is a notice about "BMG's Copy-Control", with the url "http://www.bmg-copycontrol.info". This says the CD is indeed playable on CD audio home players, PCs with Windows, but apparently not in "Mac and others". So, the notice is there, but the copy protection is not?. I don't understand.

Minutes later, I erased the mp3s from my hard disk and decided to use Nero 6.0 to copy the CD-audio CD into a blank CD-R. It worked flawlessly, as it should, since it's a regular CD-audio disc. In the end, it seems that the cover art includes the "big scary Copy-Control message", yet the local BMG branch chooses not to include any form of annoying copy protection in the disc. Kudos to them!.

My message hence, to people concerned about audio CD anti-piracy measures in their CDs: "Visit South America". But don't knock at my door, I'm way too busy to sign autographs for every reader and tourist. µ