Anyone know of products that watermark CD's?

[Resonater]

Anyone know of products that can watermark CD's?

Thanks in advance...

[CJ Mastering]

Here ya go:

MusicTrace Products - Broadcast Monitoring and Internet Search for Music and Commercials

[masteringhouse]

Without screwing with the audio you could create a multi-session CD with a data portion that identifies the CD. This doesn't protect someone from extracting the audio and being able to identify later.

What's the purpose?

[dcollins]

Originally Posted by Resonater

Anyone know of products that can watermark CD's?

There are a couple, but you usually have to send it somewhere to be encoded. I know Warner's has a system.

What is the application?


DC

[masteringhouse]

Though slightly off topic...

I haven't done any testing but would be curious if Shazam's algorithm is able to distinguish between remasters of the same song. Anyone try this?

[masteringhouse]

Just tried it with a Zep CD and it appears not or at least they aren't cataloged that way. Might be a good watermarking technique though if it wasn't a straight copy.

Again I suppose it depends on the purpose.

[Serif Sound]

Wikipedia has an interesting page on "Audio Watermark Detection." There's a rather heady .pdf which you can download that covers the subject of Spread Spectrum (audio) watermarking in some detail. It's a bit over my head, but I could have sworn the author said something about using Auto-Tune to help find the watermark! I mustn't have finished waking up.

But I do remember someone once suggesting a watermark be added to a song using Renovator (or ReTouch). You could use your mouse to draw a logo or maybe some (hostile?) words in the waveform and then play it back to determine its "transparency."

Generally, it seems a bit subversive to put a watermark in music. Even if you can't hear it, knowing it's there would make me tune away. Ymmv.
Haven't we all finally accepted that CDs are glorified business cards*? If R. E. M.'s CD is free, how much should you charge for _your'n_?



Cheers,
Andrew



*which can easily be Xeroxed without sonic degradation by the end user!!!

[slinkyfm]

For my production work I have used AudioLock.NET which does the music watermarking which you can download and burn to CD and it also searches online for any illegal copies for you. Once found you can test a file it has found and it will identify which watermark it was. Basically it is total piracy protection.

I have used duplication houses before but found them expensive (about £1.50 extra per CD!!!) plus you then have to search all the sites for any copies of your tracks on file sharing sites. That AudioLock system does it automatically so worth a look.