I took my first copy-controlled CD back to the shop today. It was Massive Attack's 100th Window. I had bought it desipite the fact that it is probably not politically correct to buy Massive Attack CDs right now. When I got it home, someone on IRC mentioned that a much better reason to avoid it was that it was copy-controlled, at least in the UK.

So I looked at my Australian copy, and there it was, the small sticker on the front of the jewel-case that proclaimed that what I had bought wasn't really a CD, just an imitation CD that was broken just enough so that it only played in the lower grade of audio CD players, and on Windows systems.

Such a product is totally useless to me. I firmly believe that any CD store that sells something like that to me without clearly warning me that what I am buying is not really a CD, is dealing in misleading and deceptive conduct as defined by our various fair-trading laws. And a little sticker isn't enough, thankyou very much. CDs are covered in stickers these days, and until the copy-control sticker is a widely known and looked-for symbol, nothing short of a warning at the counter by the sales assistant will do.

I took the not-CD back to the store. I may very well download it from the Internet (where it is readily available, despite the copy-control) as an act of protest.