How to Make a Copy Protected CD

Question

I want to burn a CD and protect it from copying. Please suggest a way to do that. Is there any open source software to do that? Only suggest free ways.

Answer 1

There is no such way. If the data can be read, it can be copied.

• Errors added to the CD in order to stop burning/copying are eventually worked around; you can tell a copying program to ignore the errors.
• Programs added to the CD that execute on the host system can be worked around (run a different OS).
• Tying your program to the disc can be worked around.

Even worse, Open Source software can't be used for this because no one wants to write a program that does this--and if someone is paid to--downstream users will just read the source, remove the DRM, and recompile a DRM-free version.

Actually...I'm wrong. There is one guaranteed way to make a CD not copyable.

Take a key and scratch all over the disc. If the disk is completely unreadable, no one will be able to copy it.

Answer 2

I highly doubt there is a free way of doing this;

Arguably the 'leader' in copy-protection on CDs is Macrovision's SecuROM technology, which, in a nutshell works by corrupting the disk. However, to actually do this, they have a specialized process for building the CD dies. The overall process is very clever, and to give you an idea why there isn't a free way of doing this;

On a CD, there are various subtracks of data, some of these are for synchronization, some of them are for metadata about the disk. A particular part of metadata is the sector number -- this number (By spec) is supposed to be sequential.

E.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

What SecuROW does, is actually tweak that sequence (violating disk spec) and puts something like this:

E.g. 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5

Basically, it scatters these around the disk. The SecuROM software has an algorithm on where these twin sectors can be expected to be found, so what it does is a series of seeking menuvers with the drive -- i.e. 'Seek 1, Seek 4;' the data in the first sector 3 will be returned, the second sector will be ignored. Then it will do, for example, 'Seek 5, Seek 3'. The data in the second sector will be returned, the first ignored. By comparing this data, SecuROM is able to figure out the disk is valid.

But that is just SecuROM -- there are some others that prevent copying, but they aren't terribly compatible with all drives and some burners can get around them now. SecuROM is the only one that no matter how hard you try, there is no consumer burner that will produce duplicate sectors (to my knowledge).

And Broam makes an excellent point -- you might go through all the hassle in the world to prevent copying, but it can ALWAYS be overridden in software. It's not worth your time or investment. There is not a single copy protection scheme out there that works 100%. Produce a good software product and people will buy it. Some people simply never will, and you can't change them.

To further clarify (Thanks Bobby), I'm just talking about the details of the hardware-side of JUST SecuROM. The software side, as I mentioned above (but is worth repeating) is ALWAYS breakable. To counter this, SecuROM specifically, has put some really shady code under the hood of their clients' code that put your computer at risk. And while it worked for a short period of time, in the long run, IT STILL DIDN'T HOLD UP, AND it only angered legitimate purchasers.

Answer 3

You already make audio CDs that are exactly as copy protected as pressed audio CDs ever are, because standards-compliant audio CDs are not copy protected.

Edit: And they can't be.

Audio CDs follow a standard known as the "Red Book". Essentially, each audio track is uncompressed 16-bit stereo PCM sampled at 44100 Hz. An consumer audio CD player expects to find those tracks in the places prescribed by the standard.

A data CD uses a coding scheme to make data blocks along with error correction codes fit into the same format and blocking structure of the audio tracks. Although there is a documented way to identify the data track(s) as data, many audio players can't or don't. The result of accidentally playing a data track out an audio system is unpleasant.

Hybrid formats are possible with both data and audio tracks. Some multi-media presentation techniques were developed that made use of that to deliver text in a data track and sound in the audio tracks.

One use of a hybrid format places software in the data track, marked so that it is run automatically when the disk is inserted in a PC. When the software legitimately enhances the user's experience and does not install any thing or leave traces of itself behind when the disk is ejected, then that is a reasonable thing to do.

However, many users are highly suspicious of software that comes packaged on a music disk. There is no expectation that when a music disk is inserted in a PC, that it would run (or worse, install) software. And doing things that a user doesn't and shouldn't expect is never a way to earn trust.

Sony, in particular, violated that trust when they installed a rootkit based DRM tool on end-user PCs. The software replaced the device driver that handled the CD with one that could monitor usage and attempt to prevent what Sony perceived to be misuse of its discs. They got caught by a high-profile Windows system expert when a tool to detect rootkits that he was developing suddenly was signaling that his personal development PC was infected. He investigated, found the rootkit, and tracked down its origin to a particular recently purchased CD published by Sony. He went public, and Sony had to deal with a scandal.

Answer 4

You may have to reconsider your copy protection mechanism. You may want to try something more along the lines of product activation.

Answer 5

See this article : Create a Copy Protected CD.

It mentions several methods using CDRWin ($29.95, demo fully functional but limited to 1X speed recording, probably the same can be done with other freeware):

1. Copy-protect a Data CD by adding a dummy Data track so that the backup disc will have 2 Data tracks (which is in fact an Illegal Table of Contents).
2. Copy-protect a Data CD by adding a dummy Data track with a different CD "mode" than the first, so the CD won't be copied at all.
3. Use copy protection tools to generate a copy-protected Data or Audio CD, the list of such tools is included.

Answer 6

How about you put whatever data you want on the CD in a encrypted archive and only give out they password or key to the person who needs to read it. If you can't trust the person you are giving the data to, there is no way to protect it. As everyone else pointed out, most copy protection methods are easily defeated, and if you can see the data, you can copy it.

Answer 7

This would only work for a data CD that you don't want others to boot from.

Install 7-zip (a free program). Take all files that you would put on the CD and create a 7z archive protected with a password. Burn this large .7z to the CD, and then only those with the password can unpack the .7z and access the CD's contents.