The driver was pretty simple. When a CD was inserted, it checked for a watermark and if there, returned pseudo random sectors of data. To play the CD on PC required using their software player. The software player had the ability to rip the CD to .wma files and this was how you were supposed to use the CDs. This only affected playback on PCs. CD audio players played the discs as normal CDs.
I never thought it would prevent piracy. They said it was a success even if only a small percentage are stopped by it. I didn't believe in the software but I do believe in copyright so I took the job. The software was put together by 4 guys on a shoestring budget. It's amazing it worked at all. People read into this and think big Sony/BMG money but in reality it's tiny contractors. Some of us were doxxed back then and was a pretty horrible experience all around.
I never thought it would prevent piracy. They said it was a success even if only a small percentage are stopped by it. I didn't believe in the software but I do believe in copyright so I took the job. The software was put together by 4 guys on a shoestring budget. It's amazing it worked at all. People read into this and think big Sony/BMG money but in reality it's tiny contractors. Some of us were doxxed back then and was a pretty horrible experience all around.