Key2Audio explained and should we fear it ?
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| Posted by | Jan Willem |
| Posted on | 16/11/01 16:30 |
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In the sequel of copy protection explanations here is part 2, Key2Audio. Key2Audio seems to popup a lot, and is at this moment (November 2001) the most used copy protection. Its traces appear on almost every forum.
Sony DADC
Key2Audio is actually a product of Sony's DADC department that has also developed the SecuRom protection, once widely used on games and applications, but it seems that it has lost the battle with SafeDisc from Macrovision.
The protection promises the producer of the CD, and the consumer that the CD's can be read by any normal CD player because it is compatible with the Red Book standard. The Red Book standard (developed by Philips and Sony) is the blueprint of the audio CD as we know it, and describes how a CD should be produced (The Red Book describes the CD's physical specifications, such as the tracks, sector and block layout, coding, and sampling), so that if every CD manufacturer and hardware manufacturer works with these standards there will be no problems with incompability and every CD plays on every CD player.
It seems that this is no lie, the protection however 'exploits' the Red Book standard by using it probably the way Sony and Philips have never intented it back when they developed the standard. They have modified the CD so it can not be played on CD/DVD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW drives, thus they do not play on PC, Apple Macintosh or other systems equipped with CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM and DVD-R devices, but how do they do this...
How it works (not confirmed):
How it exactly works is not really clear, but it seems that Key2Audio protected CD's contain several sessions (a session could be called a collection of tracks) and that the PC only wants to read the data session(s) and the audio CD player only picks the audio session. Also the Table Of Contents (TOC) seems to be modified so the CD-ROM drive goes mad.
Most reports are that there are 3 sessions, 2 sessions with each one small data track and one session with the first track a data track and the rest audio tracks, the last session seems not to be closed.
Uh oh ?
And again you might be stunned by these technical terms, and the question raises, is there a way to bypass it ?
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Posted by Djoox on Saturday 17 November 2001 01:37
As mentioned in the article it just plays without any problems on my old cd-rom player :4
Posted by jorrit on Saturday 24 November 2001 18:49
The programms that are mentioned don't work when you have a new CD player. Does anyone know how to solve it anyway?
I can also confirm that with a non multisession read capable cd-rom player (Philips PCA408CD) I have absolutely no problems reading Sony protected cd's opposite to my newer cd-rom players.
Posted by Deathstalker on Thursday 04 April 2002 12:58
Not sure if it will work but other protection schemes that use multi-sessions and fake/corrupted TOCs can be bypassed using a util called IsoBuster, which can read the individual sessions on a CD.
Posted by Mouse on Friday 05 April 2002 03:50
It seems quite ironic that Sony would release a form of digital-copy protection, while at the same time market their own portable mp3 players (which somewhat encourage ripping and encoding for "personal" use only)
:4 I was playing around with Audiocatalyst 1.5, with my 52x Actima CDROM, and have sucessfully ripped the Celine Dion cd to mp3. This was possible by bypassing the data track in the list to rip. The last track, next to the data, doesn't rip though
Posted by Martijn on Monday 29 April 2002 17:10
Hello I got a 24X speed and a 32X speed CDROM Are they old enough to rip CD's with key2audio?
a simple way, use a soft black pen, and fill the first source..thats all
♦
♦
the last post is totally true. just take a sharpie and draw on the outside edge of the cd. it covers up the data that makes your computer reject the disc. now put it in your drive and burn/rip away.
Celine Dion was OK with my RealJukeBoxPlus 
. In trouble with Lauryn Hill as previous settings do not work. I have an image with CloneCD but this will cost 2CD to bypass the protection: so no direct MP3 for me now. Can anyone suggest how to have a Virtual CD Rom on my PC to burn the IMAGE.CCD without loosing a CD?
. In trouble with Lauryn Hill as previous settings do not work. I have an image with CloneCD but this will cost 2CD to bypass the protection: so no direct MP3 for me now. Can anyone suggest how to have a Virtual CD Rom on my PC to burn the IMAGE.CCD without loosing a CD?1. I would like to try BlindRead/BlindWrite Suite but don't have a true protected CD yet!
2. We can wait for Daemon Tools updates on this CD protection (emulation)Hi! Hi!
2. We can wait for Daemon Tools updates on this CD protection (emulation)Hi! Hi!
On a protected CD you should notice a thin shiny band about 2mm thick. This signifies the start of the 2nd or perhaps 3rd session or just to keep it simple, the data track that so inconsiderately messes with your CD ROM drive. If you mark through this ever so carefully with a felt tipped pen in about 4 places equally spaced out around the band, your CD ROM should not be able to read the data and therefore instead of getting lost in the data track, skip straight to the audio. The only CD I have tried this on is Dave Matthews Band's new CD Busted Stuff. And my basic reaction to this protection is...why? I don't use original cd's. Pretty much the only place I listen to CD's is in my car and since my car got broken into, I don't keep anything in there but burned copies. At any rate, this pen trick will allow you to rip and back up your CD for your own personal use. I personally recommend using a dry erase marker...it is a little less permanent if you screw up, and well, nobody is perfect. I had to erase mine about 4 times before I finally got it right, because I kept getting a little bit on track 11 and it wouldn't rip. So be careful, be legal, and most of all...back up your CD's...there's no reason they should be able to take that away from you.
Posted by k1ller_cuts on Tuesday 30 July 2002 03:16
People seem to assume thats only the old drives are affected. This is not really the case I fell foul of the copy protection.
Copying the CD with nero is possible but the cd jitters when played back unless its copied in raw mode using something like clone cd or golden hawk.
What the extra data does is to stop programs like musicmatch recoginizing that you have a cd reader so you cannot rip the audio into mp3.
My new machine no longer rips cds. I normally copy all my cds on the computer and listen to them in winamp. If anyone knows how to get the cd working again please help. Ive tried Aspi but to no avail.
Copying the CD with nero is possible but the cd jitters when played back unless its copied in raw mode using something like clone cd or golden hawk.
What the extra data does is to stop programs like musicmatch recoginizing that you have a cd reader so you cannot rip the audio into mp3.
My new machine no longer rips cds.
I normally copy all my cds on the computer and listen to them in winamp. If anyone knows how to get the cd working again please help. Ive tried Aspi but to no avail.I have a LG CDROM drive model number CRD-8320B, and can confirm that Key2audio protected CDS play using any standard CD player.
I can say that Key2Audio was no problem when i used my Samsung 48x SC-148. I noticed that, and i can see i'm not the only one 
, that th9is type of protection is useless when using old cd-roms! BTW, if it helps, I used AudioCatalyst...
, that th9is type of protection is useless when using old cd-roms! BTW, if it helps, I used AudioCatalyst...HEY! its me again Everything went well, except for the last track of the cd! Probably coz its the one next to the data track surrounding the cd... oh well...
Everything went well, except for the last track of the cd! Probably coz its the one next to the data track surrounding the cd... oh well...I have the Anastacia "Freak Of Nature" album protected with Key2audio and it plays perfectly on my LG CED-8120B CD-RW drive. However I did read from one source that the later version of Key2audio will allow playback on PCs yet the method is unknown. :7
:7Hey its me again Sorry some things I missed out
Have you seen the Key2audio website? They describe the bogus data track as a "special hidden signature?"
In that same site they proudly boast "Key2audio prevents playback on PC/MAC and therefore prevents ripping..." don't they realise most people JUST LISTEN to CDs on their PC WITHOUT track ripping?
hope someone will give that site a damn good hacking :7
www.key2audio.com
Sorry some things I missed out
Have you seen the Key2audio website? They describe the bogus data track as a "special hidden signature?"
In that same site they proudly boast "Key2audio prevents playback on PC/MAC and therefore prevents ripping..." don't they realise most people JUST LISTEN to CDs on their PC WITHOUT track ripping?
hope someone will give that site a damn good hacking :7
www.key2audio.com
Hello there,
Believe it or not I did manage in minutes to copy Audio2Key protected CD on My computer. :4
It is slightly the same trick as the pen one.
But this time you don't have to write on your original CD.
My trick uses paper and scissors : The trick is to cut into paper a circle that has the dimensions of a cd and then at the inside of this "paper disc" cut a hole as 'thick' as the track would go from the center of the CD from before the exterior edge.
You will end just by cuting again this holed disc paper in for quarts.
Place one of those quarts inside the cd-rom tray where there is the big hole for the lens. This way the paper will hide a part of the last track and this annoying 'bogus data'.
Don't forget to assure the paper with scotch tape.
This way I did made my personnal backup copy of Shakira-Laundry Service COMPLETE (till the end of 13rd and last track).
Beautiful isn't it ?
I did notice few circular scratches but nothing major.
Maybe we can use a material a little bit smoother and harder than paper...
!!For archival purpose only!!
Believe it or not I did manage in minutes to copy Audio2Key protected CD on My computer. :4
It is slightly the same trick as the pen one.
But this time you don't have to write on your original CD.
My trick uses paper and scissors : The trick is to cut into paper a circle that has the dimensions of a cd and then at the inside of this "paper disc" cut a hole as 'thick' as the track would go from the center of the CD from before the exterior edge.
You will end just by cuting again this holed disc paper in for quarts.
Place one of those quarts inside the cd-rom tray where there is the big hole for the lens. This way the paper will hide a part of the last track and this annoying 'bogus data'.
Don't forget to assure the paper with scotch tape.
This way I did made my personnal backup copy of Shakira-Laundry Service COMPLETE (till the end of 13rd and last track).
Beautiful isn't it ?
I did notice few circular scratches but nothing major.
Maybe we can use a material a little bit smoother and harder than paper...
!!For archival purpose only!!
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