Description
The version of this software used in Sony CDs is the one marketed as "XCP-Aurora". The first time a user attempts to play such a CD on a Windows system, the user is presented with an EULA, if they refuse to accept it the CD is ejected, if they accept it the software is installed. The EULA did not mention that it installed hidden software. The software will then remain resident in the user's system, intercepting all accesses of the CD drive to prevent any media player or ripper software other than the one included with XCP-Aurora from accessing the music tracks of the Sony CD. No obvious way to uninstall the program is provided. Attempting to remove the software by deleting the associated files manually will render the CD drive inoperable due to registry settings that the program has altered. However, it was soon discovered that the software could be easily defeated by merely using a permanent marker to draw a dark border along the edge of the disk.
If the user was aware of the hidden software, they could disable AutoPlay on their computer and by doing so circumvent the entire DRM system.
The included player software will play the songs and allow only a limited degree of other actions such as burning the music onto a certain number of other CDs or loading it onto certain DRM-protected devices such as a few portable music players. The popular iPod, sold by Sony competitor Apple Computer, does not support their DRM format and they could not use Apple's FairPlay.
XCP conceals itself from the user by installing a patch to the Windows operating system. This patch stops ordinary system tools from displaying processes, registry entries, or files whose names begin with $sys$. Other XCP components include "Plug and Play Device Manager", which continuously monitors all other programs being run on the computer.
Read more about this topic: Extended Copy Protection
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