MediaMax

MediaMax received media attention in late 2005 in fallout from the Sony XCP copy protection scandal.

MediaMax is a second-generation system meant to address the problems of earlier copy-preventing schemes, where many types of playback devices had difficulty reading discs in normal use.

Some BMG discs using the scheme have a label affixed to the front that states: This CD is protected against unauthorized duplication.

If you have questions or concerns visit www.sunncomm.com/support/bmg[3]A section on the back of some packages states, in part: This CD is enhanced with MediaMax software.

The user is informed that they must accept the terms of this EULA to use the CD on their computer, but the DRM software is installed without notice, even if they decline, cancel, or terminate the program.

MediaMax departs from the convention of digital rights management (DRM) software by ignoring a user's desire to decline the installation.

[citation needed] People who do not disable AutoRun can prevent the software from loading by holding down the shift key[7] each time a disc is inserted.

However, in contrast to the previous XCP copy protection components used by Sony/BMG, the Windows service that MediaMax installs can be safely and easily stopped, disabled and removed.

To determine if MediaMax is installed on a Windows PC, one may launch a command prompt, from which the Service Control Manager can be queried.

Once installed, the MediaMax software looks for a watermark inside all raw CD audio to recognize protected content.