Stardate 20011119.0601 (On Screen): BMG released a copy-protected CD with music from someone named Natalie Imbruglia in Europe. The disks can be played on regular CD players but cannot be played on a PC. It's not just that they can't be ripped; they can't even be played at all. For a lot of music fans now, their PC
is their CD player; it's quite common now especially for younger people. And inevitably there have been customer complaints and returns, and the stores have also been bitching. (Stores don't like returns.) The CDs were not labeled to indicate that they could not be used in PCs (though word had spread) and now BMG has backed down. They'll reissue the CD without copy protection, and replace the copy-protected CD of any customer who mails it in.
Did they really expect anything else? I simply don't understand the psychology of the record company here. Did they really think that the buying public would stand for crippled products? They are so blinded by the looming image of Napster that it has made them start to think of all their customers as criminals. You can't run a business where you hate or fear your customers. (discussion in progress)
