I got a couple of new CDs this week.

Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way

I’m a Dixie Chicks fan from way back. I mean WAY back; back to their first incarnation as a festival band in Dallas, circa 1990 or so. This is the fourth studio CD from the current incarnation of the Chicks, and it expands on their complex pop-country style. Probably anyone who cares has heard the “Not Ready to Make Nice” track, which refers to the ongoing political controversy. (Which wouldn’t be a controversy anywhere but in the country music world…. somewhere along the way, the country music business in general and a few artists in particular– yes, Toady, err, Toby, I mean you– have lost track of what “free speech” means.) But I digress. Along the more interesting songwriting credits are pop rocker Sheryl Crow on “Favorite Year” and blues artist Keb’Mo’ on “I Hope.” Of particular note is “Lubbock or Leave It” a complex country-rock track that deserves to be a hit in its own right. For somebody who can see (that wouldn’t be me) this is a pretty nice sing-along album. All in all, I’d give it three and a half out of four stars. No DRM.

Bruce Springsteen – The Seeger Sessions

Oh, Bruce, Bruce, what have you done?!?

After nearly forty years in the music business, Springsteen has explored pretty much every musical genre. Most of it has been well done; much of it spectacular. The Seeger Sessions are no exception. It’s basically a selection of traditional American folk songs (despite the title, not all Pete Seeger songs) arranged by Springsteen & Co. Fair warning: fans of Springsteen’s rock style will hate it; much like “Tom Joad,” this sure ain’t that.

I originally heard this on one of the full-album Sirius stations, and knew I had to have a copy. Off to Amazon, and two days later I have it in my hand. But what showed up is a miserable piece of DRM-ridden crap that won’t play on my stereo. It isn’t recognized by my computer, either Windows or Linux. It won’t let me make a backup copy or rip it to MP3, as is my legal right. This is a deal-breaker. I listen to music mostly in my car, but as a matter of policy, I don’t keep my original CDs in my car. Not even for Bruce Springsteen.

This is in something called “Dualdisc” technology, which has a “DVD” on one side and an “audio CD” on the other side. (I put “CD” in quotes, because it isn’t a CD. There’s a lovely note inside the packaging that says “The audio side of this disc does not conform to CD specifications and therefore will not play on some CD and DVD players.” The Amazon web site mentions the Dualdisc technology, but not a word about the crippled DRM. The disc packaging itself only says it in four point type in yellow text on a brown background. I literally had to find a magnifying glass and a bright light to read it.)

So anyway, I gave it a listen on my DVD player (for some reason, the audio plays on my DVD player but the DVD side doesn’t. More DRM? Who cares?) Even with the crappy audio on my DVD player, I can tell this would be an impressive album if I could listen to it better.

Just for my own amusment, I set up my old $20 Walkman-CD with a cable to the line input on my computer’s sound card and recorded the whole thing into Audacity. A little cut ‘n’ paste, and guess what? It worked fine. So much for stupid anti-piracy schemes.

Alas, much as I might like the music, this one is going back to Amazon because of the DRM. (And yes, I deleted the analog copy.)

I’ll give this one star out of four possible. And that one is only for the pure irony of locking up the music of that old socialist Pete Seeger, behind stupid and useless restrictions that prevent music fans from listening to it, while doing nothing that actually prevents someone who really wants to steal this from doing so.

Bruce, you should be ashamed of yourself.