CD Copy Protection – Copy Protection of CD-Rs and CD-ROMs

CD Copy Protection Overview

CD Copy Protection technologies (which are often referred to as Digital Rights Management, or DRM) aim to prevent unauthorized copying and unauthorized use of discs. The aim of these technologies is to prevent piracy of CD content using technologies to thwart illegal copying.
The goal of most CD copy protection technologies is to make it difficult to copy a disc. None of these technologies are considered full-proof. If a product is attractive enough to hackers, they almost inevitably find a way to circumvent these technologies. Major entertainment companies are often content with prolonging the inevitable (i.e. even if the copy protection schemes hold up for just a few weeks, a new title with large consumer appeal could benefit from a huge surge in sales from even a modest time period of protection). Subsequently, the primary goal of the publisher is to simply make it more difficult for the hacker and buy more time for the initial sales cycle. For most smaller publishers and developers that have a portfolio of software titles that do not necessarily have mass-market appeal, these technologies are often a good value proposition, increasing overall sales for a title that is protected versus a title that has no protection.

Software and Gaming Developers

CD-ROM titles, the most common method of protecting CD-ROMs relies primarily on the introduction (purposely) of read errors on the original disc. By introducing read errors to the disc, the user would be required to read and write uncorrectable data to make a backup or copy. Most drives will have a problem with doing this and the disc copying process will fail.

Safedisc/Safecast

The most common software copy protection scheme (until it was purchased by and subsequently discontinued by Real Networks) was a copy protection method known as SAFEDISC (also SAFECAST). Safedisc was heavily used particularly for high-profile game titles until Real Networks pulled the plug on the technology altogether after purchasing the assets and technology from Macrovision.

SecuROM

SecuROM (a competing technology to Safedisc) is today’s market leader in large-scale large-volume copy protection for major release gaming and software titles. In order for SecuROM to be applied to a CD title, there is one MAIN criteria… the CD must contain an executable file(s) for the technology to work effectively. It is not possible, for example, to copy protect a CD containing a single image or document file. The CD must contain a Program file (.exe file) and a minimum of 150MB of data in order to implement SecuROM technology. In addition, the technology must be added to the master by an authorized dealer or developer only and glass mastered (mass produced) with a minimum quantity of at least 300 CDs (see below for Authorized Dealers).

Once implemented, SecuROM’s disc-based Digital Rights Management ensures that only authorized users who purchased the disc can play it. The authentication process is completely transparent to legitimate consumers who have an original disc in the local CD-ROM drive. If the inserted disc is verified as an original, the game or software starts seamlessly. If SecuROM determines that the disc is an illegitimate copy, the application terminates the application and displays an information dialog informing the consumer to purchase the product (this message can be fully customizable).

The SecuRom technology is not new… it has been used on over 300 million discs on the market since 1997. SecuROM’s disc-based Digital Rights Management solution is the proven market leader in this area.

Short-run copy protection

For some publishers, there are two main drawbacks with the SecuROM copy protection:

A minimum run of 300 discs must be manufactured in order to implement the technology.
The high unit cost of running less than 1000 discs.

The SecuROM technology wasn’t designed for smaller runs or one-off copies. However, this gap was bridged with the introduction of Secure CDRs. Using technology similar to SecuROM, the Secure CD-R allows one-offs to be created and allows cost-effective production of short runs (25, 50, 100 copies with copy protection). However, like SecuROM, Secure CDRs require an executable file or Program file to be present on the CD for the copy protection to work effectively. In addition, an authorized dealer or developer must implement the copy protection scheme to create a valid copy protected Master CD.

Audio CD Protection Technologies

Unlike CD-ROM software and gaming CDs, Audio CD protection technologies have not been widely adapted in the Music Industry. The main reason for this lack of adoption is that the consumer fully expects to be free to use the music in the device of his/her choosing. Limiting the playback or copying of a CD would effectively limit the playback choices for the consumer.
Example: Playback of a copy protected Audio CD on a computer would require the use of a special authorized software player, and this would also limit the use of the files on devices such as MP3 players. Because most consumers expect to be allowed to play their music on the device of their choosing and also expect to make a backup copy of their purchased music CDs (example: to use one copy in the car), Audio CD protection has not gained wide acceptance in the Music Industry.

Should I protect my CD? Is it worth the investment?

Audio CD protection is not recommended, as it has not been well received by consumers. However, software CD-ROM can provide a return on investment.
Example: Take the hypothetical scenario of a Software Maker that has a title selling for $29.99. If this Software Maker expects to sell 1000 copies of this title at $29.99 without copy protection, and they forecast selling 1,300 copies if it was copy protected, let’s see if it makes good business sense to copy protect the CD….

Forecasted Sales with no protection: 1000 copies @ 29.99 = $29,990
Cost of protection at $1000 (estimated only)
Forecasted Sales with copy protection, additional 300 copies x 29.99 = $8997
Additional revenue is therefore $8997 - $1000 = $7997
In this scenario, copy protection makes good business sense,
with an increase in Revenue of $7997!

You can use this same formula to determine whether copy protecting your Intellectual property is a good value proposition… Just substitute the selling price, and forecasted sales numbers with your own numbers above!

Can I copy protect a PDF, or a Video, or other files on a CD?

Although it was clearly stated above that an executable file was required in order to protect your CD-ROM effectively, the fact is that there are ways to embed files within an executable to allow the protection of otherwise unprotectable files. For example, a PDF can be embedded in a custom application program. The same can be done for images, and even video files. However, this requires some programming and setup and may increase the overall cost of the project. There are companies that specialize in copy protection services for CD-ROM, such as Microforum. You can contact Microforum for more information on protecting your CD files. They provide free estimates.