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MediaCloQ.md

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Names:

MediaClōQ1, MEDIACLOQ2, MediaCloQ3, MediaCloq4, MediaClòQ 5, MediaClog / Media Clog (Sarcastic)6

Developers:

SunnComm1

Years Active:

20011 - ~20037

Known Versions & Differences:

Version 1.0: Initial release, found in "A Tribute to Jim Reeves" by Charley Pride.3

Version 1.2: Unknown what differs between this and 1.0, planned to have been used in Europe using Sonopress 8.

Version 2.0: Announced in 20019, but not known to have been used in any releases.

Versions 3-4: No references to these versions have currently been found.

Version 5.0: Demonstrated to SunnComm stockholders in 200210. Seemingly never officially released.

Known Samples:

Confirmed:

Version 1.0:

  • "A Tribute to Jim Reeves" - Charley Pride (Barcode "7 816190222-2 4").

Version 1 (Subversion unknown):

  • "Karaoke Spotlight Series - Pop Hits - Vol. 132" - Sound Choice (SC8732) ("This disc is copy protected by - MediaClōQ - By SunnComm, Inc. - V1" is printed on the discs label).

Version 2.0+: N/A

Unconfirmed:

Categories:

Optical Copy Protection, Audio CD Protection

Overall Description:

MediaCloQ (as in "Media Cloak") was a copy protection created by SunnComm to protect music CDs in 2001. It apparently used SunnComm's "Digital Content Cloaking" (AKA "DC2")11. It was first (and most notably) used to protect "A Tribute to Jim Reeves", though the result was mixed at best due to several tracks of the disc having been leaked online before the protected version of the CD had been released 12. This was apparently due to an unprotected release having come out shortly beforehand in Australia, undermining the possibility of using the release to gauge how effective MediaCloQ would have been at preventing the music from being ripped and circulated online. This didn't stop BMG13, Sonopress8, and DCA14 from offering adding MediaCloQ to their pressings.

MediaCloQ (Ver. 1.0) protected discs are multisession CDs, and all the audio tracks are erroneously marked as data tracks. Unlike other audio CD protections, MediaCloQ didn't give an option to listen to the music off of PC or make "legitimate" copies. It does, however, include an actual data track in the second session. In "A Tribute to Jim Reeves", this includes a message stating that the disc is protected with MediaCloQ, and that a digital copy can be purchased from their website. In "Karaoke Spotlight Series - Pop Hits - Vol. 132", no such message identifying the protection is present in this data session. Instead, the presence of MediaCloQ is confirmed on the disc's label, and the data session contains advertisements for other products from Sound Choice.

Unfortunately, little of the official SunnComm website is preserved, and little to no information is present online about version 2.0 and above. Thankfully, there are multiple samples of version 1.0 available, as well as a multitude of information. Despite the fact that few (if any) news sites reported this, Sound Choice appears to have released 35 CD+G discs with MediaCloQ, specifically in their 8700 series15. This was discontinued as of April 14, 2003, with Sound Choice offering to replace the discs for a $6 fee7. It's unknown at exactly what date this arrangement was discontinued, when the final Sound Choice disc containing MediaCloQ was released, or if any of these used version 2.0.

It appears that despite a version 5.0 being in development as late as June 200210, MediaCloQ had completely disappeared by 2003. An official notice of abandonment for both of the held trademarks had been issued on Oct. 9, 2002 by the USPTO1 2, with no apparent attempt to revive them. This may be due to the lawsuit, which had resulted in a settlement agreement that cost the defendants (including SunnComm) $10,000 on top of various limitations in how the DRM could be used16.

Additional Resources & Documentation:

"DeLise v. Fahrenheit Entertainment, Inc. et al" documents

Stereophile Articles Regarding MediaCloQ:

Footnotes:

Footnotes

  1. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76227739&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76227739&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch ↩ ↩2

  3. https://www.cdrfaq.org/faq02.html#S2-4-4 ↩ ↩2

  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20010928185557/http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1014-201-7311791-0.html ↩

  5. https://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections_mediacloq_v10.shtml ↩

  6. http://forum.mtu.com/showthread.php?t=1016 ↩

  7. http://forum.mtu.com/archive/index.php?t-2154.html ↩ ↩2

  8. https://www.stereophile.com/news/11119 ↩ ↩2

  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20011108054901/https://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010827/270282.html ↩

  10. https://www.stereophile.com/news/11375 ↩ ↩2

  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20010408184125/http://www.fahrenheitentertainment.com:80/newsreleases/newsrelease032201.htm ↩

  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20010527010147/http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5082954,00.html ↩

  13. https://www.stereophile.com/news/11106 ↩

  14. https://www.cdrinfo.com/d7/content/dca-integrates-mediacloq-audio-copy-protection-mastering ↩

  15. http://karaokescene.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=134144 ↩

  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20040728230553/http://www.techfirm.com/sunnk.pdf ↩