copy-protected cds

I went to HMV in Takashimaya Shinjuku, where they had 3 of Jamelia's albums. It's kind of sad (but a brilliant way to sucker those collectors) when the same music store carries 3 different versions of the same album. I found Jamelia's Thank You album, including the 2003 release with 12 songs (U.K. release probably), and two 2004 releases, one the International version with 14 songs, and one the Japanese only release, with a grand total of 17 songs (4 versions of Superstar). Anyway, aside from the track differences, the 2003 release had no copy protection, the 2004 International release had copy protection (a warning that the CD does not play on all media devices), and the Japanese release had more complicated copy protection (that I'm not sure I fully understood as it was all in Japanese). I spent half an hour trying to debate which version to buy. Price differences were negligable, with the more recent versions more expensive. I wanted the Japanese version (being a sucker for those extra versions of Superstar), but if I can't listen to the songs on my mp3 player, it's just not as useful.