Shift key beats CD DRM? :| | The Coffeehouse

I've heard a few rumours about holding down the shift key, while a DRM Protected CD is loading, that supposedly beats the CD's DRM. Well I thought that doing that was to stop Autorun loading the DRM's Player automatically so I could see the files inside but it actually did beat the DRM Expressionless

The first time I loaded the CD into a CD Drive it was on a computer with autoplay/autorun disabled completely, which allowed me to check out the data files inside, finding no music files in it I took it out and that was that.

After researching Anti-DRM techniques I thought I would try to crack it so I could load some of the files on to my MP3 Player. I loaded it on to a computer with Autorun enabled and to stop autorun I held down the shift key, the CD started skipping at regular 2 second intervals so I stopped holding the shift key and I went opened D Drive and to my surprise I found cda files for all 13 Tracks rather than data files. Obviously I ripped them and now they reside on my MP3 Player.

My theory for this is that the CD checks if it is loaded in a computer's CD Drive, if so it shows data files but if not it shows Audio files. Frankly I don't know how it does this but I know that data files can't play in normal CD Players, or at least not in the ones I've loaded this CD into.

Instructions: Switch autorun/autoplay on for the Optical Drive you are going to load the CD into (by default autorun/autoplay is on so if you haven't maually turned it off, you should be fine). Load the DRM enabled CD into that Optical Drive. When it starts making a whirring noise hold down the shift key, if it starts skipping this is a good sign. After a short while of it skipping you can let go of the shift key, you can now open the drive you loaded the CD into and you should find cda files that you can rip using your favourite ripping program.

EDIT: The CD I did this on was Coldplay's X&Y.

Does anyone else have strange DRM experiences like this one?
Loadsgood.

W3bbo

Autoplay != Autorun.

Windows XP's "what do you want to do with this CD?" is Autoplay which you can disable.

Autorun is a program that the CD's *.ini file says to play as soon as it is inserted.

Windows XP doesn't let you disable Autorun unless you do a bit of GP hacking.

CannotResolveSymbol

The shift key has disabled Autorun since windows 95. It doesn't run the program specified in the ini file, so the DRM isn't turned on. (just don't double-click the CD icon or it will autorun anyways.)

Loadsgood

W3bbo wrote:

Autoplay != Autorun.

Windows XP's "what do you want to do with this CD?" is Autoplay which you can disable.

Autorun is a program that the CD's *.ini file says to play as soon as it is inserted.

Windows XP doesn't let you disable Autorun unless you do a bit of GP hacking.

I know that, that's why I put a slash between them rather than say just one of them. Anyway if you have Autorun/Autoplay disabled to beat the DRM you have to have it enabled. This thread isn't about disabling Autorun, it is about beating DRM, and for some reason or another, the CD needs autorun enabled, and the shift key held down upon loading it.

I know the shift key stops Autorun, but I want to know is why the CD gets tricked into thinking it is in a normal Optical Drive (not in a computer one) then reveals the music. Or does the computer choose to find the audio files itself?

DRM has got me confused,
Loadsgood.

Manip

W3bbo wrote:

Autoplay != Autorun.

Windows XP's "what do you want to do with this CD?" is Autoplay which you can disable.

Autorun is a program that the CD's *.ini file says to play as soon as it is inserted.

Windows XP doesn't let you disable Autorun unless you do a bit of GP hacking.

Actually Tweak UI allows you to disable autorun. And by the way, Microsoft makes no distinction between autorun and autoplay so you need to stop "correcting" people...

If you disable "autoplay" via Tweak UI (Tweak UI -> My Computer -> Autoplay -> Drives -> UnCheck Drive Letters), it will disable "autorun".

Tweak UI places a "Do not AutoRun" entry into the registry for each drive un-selected; however it remains turned on overall (so if you installed a new drive it would be enabled on that by default).

If you want to disable it system wide download and run this *.reg file.