Yeah, we've been talking about this one (and related copy protection issues) in other threads. Some good information about the copy protection schemes can be found in Andy McFadden's CDR FAQ.

I'm not sure I buy the "must be sent in for repair" bit. You know most Mac users, if the CD won't eject by dragging it onto the trash can, they think it's broken. I'm sure that there's ways for the end-user to get a CD out of there as long as they're not mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers.

And I also don't buy that it really damages the firmware.

Although I think it's cool that (according to the article) the Episode II soundtrack is protected. One of the users on this BBS mailed me a protected CD from Europe recently, because I wanted to mess with cracking it just to see if I could (which I did successfully by the way), and I've been itching to try my hand at some others.