Switchfoot/Sony One band grappling with the consequences that copy-protection technology protection has had on their fans is San Diego-based Switchfoot. The band's most recent disc "Nothing is Sound" went gold two weeks ago despite the frustration experienced by fans trying to load legally puchased tunes from the disc onto personal music players. Click photo for larger image.

Two of the nation's four major music companies have introduced CDs to the U.S. market that can be copied only three times and that, in some cases, prohibit the CD from being directly "ripped" onto Apple's popular iPod music player.

Critics charge that the maneuvers, which the companies say are intended to fight piracy, unfairly lump those who legally purchase music with those who don't.

The actions by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Group also reflect an ongoing struggle between the recording industry and Apple over the company's refusal to license iPod-related technology to the labels.

With the music industry facing a continuing slide -- CD sales are down 7 percent from last year -- the new restrictions on copying downloads represent a sea change in the industry's plans for making money in the digital music era.

In the summer of 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America began filing thousands of lawsuits against people who illegally downloaded copyrighted music from the Internet.

This year, armed with a study from an industry marketing group, it changed tactics. The December 2004 study, by NPD Group, said listeners obtained 29 percent of their music by copying it from others, and only 16 percent came from illegally downloaded songs.

To fight the copying trend, the two big labels began producing copy-protected CDs. Sony/BMG has shipped about 15 million of the protected CDs so far, while EMI has tested the domestic market with only a handful of titles. (The labels introduced protected CDs overseas a few years ago.)

Some fans, including those of major Sony acts like the Dave Matthews Band and Foo Fighters, bought the CDs without knowing about the changes and were incensed about the copy and transfer protections.

In response to fan complaints, the two bands went on their official Web sites to post back-channel instructions for copying songs onto iPod players.

Tim Foreman, bassist for the San Diego band Switchfoot, complained on his band's Sony-operated site that he was "horrified" by the protections and that "it is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology."

Getting around the protections can be as easy as holding down the "shift" key on a PC while loading the CDs or burning a new CD with Windows Media, then transferring that new disc to a Windows iPod. (The protections do not work on Apple computers.)

If requested, even Sony itself will e-mail fans instructions on how to copy songs onto their iPods.

But some listeners are still put off by the copy protections, saying they should be able to enjoy music -- which they legally purchased -- however they like.

		A fan speaks out Switchfoot fan Tim Rogers, of San Diego voices his opinion on managing legally purchased music during an interview with PG reporter Tim McNulty: As a fan, Rogers says he has no desire to damage a band financially, he just wants free choice to listen any way he wants chooses to music he buys. Copy protection restrictions harm well-intentioned fans, not music pirates.

"I look at it as, I'm not going to take food from [the band's] mouth. It's their living, and a lot of us understand that," said Switchfoot fan Tim Rogers, 41, of San Diego.

Fans "basically feel I've bought it, I own it, I want to be able to rip it and do what I want legally and enjoy it -- and be able to put it on my iPod or put it in any player I have," he said.

Industry officials stress that if people really want to copy the protected CDs onto their iPods they can, and contend that regular music fans do not need more than three copies of any CD.

The protections are intended to make fans aware of Apple's refusal to license their technology -- Sony gives fans a link to Apple's Web site to complain -- and to stop people from making several copies of CDs.

The industry's message is filtering down to some, including Pitt senior Nathan Fernando, who is coordinating a campaign to educate fellow students on legal downloading.

"Making copies of a CD for yourself or making your own mix CDs for yourself -- you know, I have a mix CD for driving and a mix CD for working out -- that's great.

"When you start making multiple copies and start giving them out to people, that's the equivalent of walking into a CD store and taking the CD and just giving it to somebody," said Mr. Fernando, 20.

The question remains whether the copy prohibitions will hurt sales. Sony says it has received questions about the technology from roughly 50,000 buyers.

Consumers are only gradually waking up to the restrictions. Walter Mossberg, an influential technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote last month that the protections treat "all consumers like criminals" and that consumers should boycott the discs.

At the very least, consumers will have to become educated on which CDs -- and which downloaded music -- carry the copy protections.

The protected discs usually carry warning messages on the back but unless consumers know exactly what kind of computer software they have -- and if their iPods are Windows- or Mac-compliant -- they could be in for a surprise when they slip the CDs into their computers.

The digital management rights software on the Sony CDs asks owners of Windows computers to accept a user license agreement before the CD will play. If the consumer disagrees, the CD will still play (on regular CD players), but it will not work on computers, burn new copies of the disc or transfer the songs to the Windows Media Player. It also will not transfer songs to a Windows iPod.

If they accept the agreement, the disc places copy-protection software on their computers.

The protection technology does not work on Apple's Mac computers, so users will see no difference when loading the discs. Apple has not licensed the labels to use its own copy-protection system, called FairPlay, which similarly restricts the number of copies customers can make from songs purchased from its iTunes site.

Playlists created from iTunes songs can be copied only seven times and played on no more than five computers, according to a study by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology advocacy group. Napster, Real Networks and other legal download sites prohibit multiple copies in similar ways.

Though the prohibitions are mounting on music consumers, it remains unclear how they will react.

The music industry "is trying to find the right balance between what consumers can legitimately do with music and making sure consumers don't loot the store. Right now, it's falling on the side of restrictions," said Mike Madison, a technology law professor at Pitt.