Seth Johnson wrote:

I got a request from a member of the C-FIT Community list, asking for information on identifying corrupt tools and media. The problem being how does one check whether a piece of hardware has DRM in it or in any way restricts one's freedoms -- preferably before buying it?

Thought I'd start by asking if any of you have specific pointers or ideas.

That is an incredibly broad question, and it seems impossible to answer without talking about specific types. Perhaps as a general guide -- did you have to click on any licence agreements too long to read fully?

I know CD 'copy-protection' isn't really a true DRM technology, but I thought I'd just point out that some corrupt CDs *used* to have obvious gaps between the tracks, or between the audio session and the data session (which provided some guide for making your marker-pen modifications), but these have now been eliminated, and the play-side looks just like any other CD.

So, there is no easy way to detect a corrupt ('copy-protected') CD in the shop unless there is a warning of some sort on the packaging. Regarding warnings -- checking for areas of fine-print or unusual symbols used on the packaging might be an idea. Some corrupt CDs do have relatively obvious warnings, but others still do not make this at all clear, if a warning is used at all.

The presence or absence of the original "compact disc digitial audio" logo is not reliable, since many corrupt discs still come with this logo on the packaging somewhere (e.g. the CD tray), and many standard non-corrupt discs fail to display it.

You can see some of the symbols/labelling in use here:

http://ukcdr.org/issues/cd/warnings/

Hope this helps --

Jim