The Lashes - Get It

So we’ve got a little problem. In normal fashion, I received a copy of “The Lashes” disc, a pre-release that record labels toss out to different magazines, websites, promotion companies, and/or anybody lucky enough to have some contacts at the label who will put them on the marketing staffs mailing list. I’d like to review this album, and I’ve really tried. However, SonyBMG has decided to encode this CD with XCP, the copy protection scheme associated with the root-kit fiasco of last year. It’s understandable that they would like to prevent this record from leaking to the general public before its actual release date. I understand such sentiment entirely - people should buy music (and lots of it). You may or may not have heard about the whole root-kit situation. Essentially, a copy protection is placed on the disc to prevent it from being burned onto a computer. Instead, it has its own media player software that loads automatically when the disc is loaded. However, this program, which installed itself on your computer without explicit permission from the user, created a security flaw in that computer that could be exploited by various hackers or viruses. The protection should have no effect on CD-only media players. However, being that this is 2006, I think its fair to expect people to not use CD-only media players designed within the last 18 months. I own NO CD-only media players. Most music is through my computer into my DVD surround system. This disk will neither play in my computer’s CD-ROM drive, or my DVD player. My car’s stereo system also plays mp3 discs, which essentially makes it a CD-ROM drive as well, so it won’t play there. Any portable CD players I have broke long, long ago (probably in high school). The same goes for any stereos that I formerly used to listen to Green Day and the Smashing Pumpkins albums back in Junior High. Thus I have yet to hear this disc. I can in no way comment on the music, but at this point I have little desire to do so. SonyBMG has since stopped using the XCP copy protection scheme, and has offered to replace discs that have it. However, being that this is a pre-release album, it is not eligible for replacement. Thus this reviewer will not be able to review The Lashes “Get It.” It is difficult to see how this might be in the best interest of the band [www.thelashes.net]