Sony seems to be doing well with their latest attempt at copy protection on their CDs. I say ‘attempt’ since it will likely only be a matter of time until someone cracks this as well.

Since March, Sony BMG has been testing out a rollout of content-enhanced copy-protected CDs with at least 10 commercial titles released so far and over 1 million of these discs sold in total. These discs feature a protection known as “sterile burning” developed by First4Internet, in which the original disc allows up to three copies to be made. However the recorded discs cannot be copied as these are also infected with DRM along with PC playable tracks in DRM protected Windows Media Audio files. So far no title names using this protection have been disclosed.

While online music services do limit the number of CDs one can burn a given title too, the recorded discs can easily be copied or ripped back into a DRM free format. According to Thomas Hesse, Sony’s president of global digital business, ripping and CD burning accounts for two-thirds of all piracy, such as at schools. As a result, securing the CD is their prime concern. [Read the rest]