Fairplay - reprinting the same CDs

mr skillsmr skills
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
OK, I know that Fairplay allows you to burn the same song as many times as you like, but the same playlist only 5 times.



What would happen if I were to burn a playlist 5 times, delete the playlist and then create it again exactly the same? Could I burn the CD another five times?



I have no intention of starting up a CD factory! Just curious to see how clever the DRM system is.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    mr skillsmr skills Posts: 144member
    Apologies for the bump but I thought this was a really interesting question... It also affects the likelihood that I will buy stuff from the iTunes store, as I am the type of person who burns CDs for the car and then they get all scratched!
  • Reply 2 of 7
    g_warreng_warren Posts: 713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr Skills

    Apologies for the bump but I thought this was a really interesting question... It also affects the likelihood that I will buy stuff from the iTunes store, as I am the type of person who burns CDs for the car and then they get all scratched!



    I don't know the answer, but if you are really paranoid, you could always burn your CDs, then rip them as MP3 or unprotected AAC files. (Provided of course your copyright laws allow this).
  • Reply 3 of 7
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    AFAIK, all you have to do is swap two of the tracks. That refreshes it as an 'altered' playlist, and you can burn five more. I *think* you can just swap them, burn one, swap them back, and burn five more, but... I haven't tried it.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I wonder: Could you rip the CD you created and then burn that as many times as you want? Presumably there's no DRM at all on the CD you create. In any case, I think it's clear from the responses that this just isn't something that comes up very often.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    I've been curious about this issue too. Not that I've had the need to burn tons of copies of a playlist or anything.



    It is possible that iTunes checksums the playlist and remembers it indefinitely, so that if I make a second playlist with the same track list it would match the previous one. However it could also be tracked with the playlist itself, so deleting it and re-creating it would sidestep the issue. I'd expect that altering a playlist would get around the issue, but if it only lets you burn a playlist 5 times it may not matter what content is inside.



    Well, if I'm sitting around doing nothing when recovering from my wisdom teeth I'll waste a bunch of CD-Rs and figure this out.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    I wonder: Could you rip the CD you created and then burn that as many times as you want? Presumably there's no DRM at all on the CD you create. In any case, I think it's clear from the responses that this just isn't something that comes up very often.



    Yes, you can burn a CD in iTunes and then mass duplicate it using Toast or something.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    I figured I should note it's actually 7 times, not five. It was originally 10, but as the computers were raised from 3 to 5, this number was lowered from 10 to 7.



    And yes, you can simply use any other app to duplicate the tracks. Even Disk Utility will work. Or perhaps even ripping the CD in iTunes and then burning it again.
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