Copy protection for CD-ROMs

[Heem]

Hi,

I'm planning on selling content I've created on CD-ROM, and I'd like to have some sort of copy protection. I don't mind a customer passing the published CD around the office, like a book that would be borrowed. But I would not want my content copied to someone hard drive resulting in multiple copies, again like a book being photocopied.

Obviously, nothing is completely safe. A good hacker can break anything. But a good thief can get passed the locks and alarm system in your house. I just want to make it difficult and inconvenient to prevent crimes of opportunity.

Does anyone know of a method to accomplish this for content distributed on CD-ROM? Thanks.

[daveperso]

Hi Heem,

Multimedia Protector might be able to help you with this. They have just updated their instructions for Studio '09. There a couple of limitations which might bother you. If you are using Engage or Quizmaker in Presenter, then your overall project will need to be less than 100 Mb. If this is just a PowerPoint/Presenter project then there are no limitations. They are planning a new release by September which should remove those limitations.

Another idea is HTML Executable which is perhaps less sophisticated but may also do the job well.

I am running some tests on both systems and will report back with my findings in due course

Regards

[Heem]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Multimedia Protector is kind of expensive, and I wonder if, in the end, would cost more than the risk of not using it.

Comparatively HTML Executable is much more affordable. But its "copy protection" appears to be restricting the user from copying text or images within the application. I don't see that it would prevent someone from copying the content of my CD-ROM to their hard drive.

Additionally, as I think about this, if I had the type of control I seek in my product, it would probalby create havoc with my CD duplication service - they wouldn't be able to copy my master unless they had the software. Furthermore, most duplication service providers do not have this service, and the one that did wanted to charge a fortune in set-up fees.

Perhaps I am worring too much. My market really is a niche market, so there's no big incentive to pirate my product for fiinancial gain, only to be too cheap to buy it. And that represents just one or two instances here and there, not thousands of counterfiet copies being unloaded in flea markets.

What do other people do? Build copy protection into their product? Or just trust that enough people are ethical enough to respect their interllectual property?