Joss Stone’s Mind, Body & Soul; EMI and CopyControl

September 28, 2004

Here’s today’s rant. I went to JB today at lunch and bought (yes, bought as in paid good money) Joss Stone’s latest CD, Mind, Body and Soul. At least, I thought I did. As it turns out, thanks to EMI’s latest and greatest copy protection, CopyControl, I can’t play the disc on my computer at work. Nor can I play it on my computer at home. I use Winamp and iTunes, so I’m not about to install their player. What’s more, I can’t put the tracks on my iPod either. So I’ve paid money for a CD (actually it’s not technically even a CD, as it doesn’t conform to Philips’ Red Book Standard – another discussion altogether) that I can’t listen to.
Not good enough, EMI, not good enough at all. I’ll be heading straight back to JB tomorrow to return the disc and I will probably also write a decent email to EMI letting them know about it too. The sheer disregard that they hold music customers in is nothing short of incredible. When I purchase music, I want to be able to listen to it on players that were designed to play music. I do not need to be told where I can listen to it, and ‘most’ CD players (excluding MP3 CD players, car stereos etc.).
Do you want to know what really bakes my noodle? On the track “Understand“, the lyrics refer to listening to music on an iPod! Unbelievable! I only know this because the lyrics are in the liner notes, I still haven’t actually heard the song yet.
It’s a disgrace, and I’m sure there’s going to be a follow up to this story.

Posted in General