Copy Blocking Will Mean Fewer CD Sales

Re “CDs That Block Copying May Herald a Revolution,” Jan. 6: When I purchase compact discs for myself, I usually either listen to them through my computer CD player or I convert them to MP3s and listen to them on my portable MP3 player. This new copy-protection method will basically prevent me and many others from listening to new CDs.

For any given copy-protected CD, somebody out there will buy the CD, use the analog signal to create a high-quality MP3 file (which isn’t all that difficult or time-consuming) and put it on the Internet for all to download for free. And many will download the songs instead of purchasing them, because these “hacked” downloaded songs can now be played everywhere, as opposed to the limited-use tracks on copy-protected CDs. How, exactly, is this supposed to benefit the copyright holders?

Robert Briggs

Los Angeles

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I have purchased approximately 450 or 500 CDs, some of which I have played only once or twice. I then put the few songs on them that I like onto a “miscellaneous” CD, making my own “best of” compilation CD. That $15 CD gets put away, probably never to be played again. The day that the record companies block copying of my own CDs (I do not plan to go back to analog cassettes) is the day I have purchased my last CD.

Mark Temple

Huntington Beach