Cd player say's protect and will not play cd - Sharp XL-ES50 CD Shelf System

Could it be the CDs you can't play, are burned in a PC?
Not all CD players can or will play CD's burned in a PC. Sometimes the CD player is to old, so not compatible with these CDs. Sometimes the player just does not play these CD's, because of rights protection.
A CD burned in a PC is less reflective than an normal music CD. Normal CD's do have a metal coating and are highly reflective. Burned CD's have a dye, and where the laser burned the dye, it only changed colour. Making it less reflective.
All modern CD playes should be capable of playing CD r's. But the player that is really compatible, is labelled CDr and CDrw compatible.

Not all CD players can or will play CD's burned in a PC. Sometimes the CD player is to old, so not compatible with these CDs. Sometimes the player just does not play these CD's, because of rights protection.
A CD burned in a PC is less reflective than an normal music CD. Normal CD's do have a metal coating and are highly reflective. Burned CD's have a dye, and where the laser burned the dye, it only changed colour. Making it less reflective.
All modern CD playes should be capable of playing CD r's. But the player that is really compatible, is labelled CDr and CDrw compatible.

Dirty lasers don't cause "protection" problems. Are you sure thay message is displayed on the CD player? That word is nowhere in its manual.

Lens is damaged.

Several causes for non-playback:
1. Your CD player doesn't like CD-R
2. Your CD player doesn't recognize wma
3. The music you converted to wma is copy protected and the CD player wont play due to that.

Solutions:
1. Most likely this isn't the problem as most working CD/DVD players recognize CD-R. Double check with your user manual.
2. Check your DVD player's playback formats. Most will play mp3 and wav. If that's the case, rip your music to mp3.
3. There are many hacks out there to remove copy protection. This you'll have to figure out on your own :)

simple some actaully most portable dvd players just arent made to play copys or duplicates becaues they do not have the software for that kind of disc. so they instead can only play origanals dont worry my portable dvd player does this too

try the small reset on the lower right hand side of the player it fixed mine

DRM, which specifies whether tracks copied from CDs in Windows Media Audio (WMA) format are protected files. A license, which helps protect the copyrights of artists by preventing unauthorized distribution, is required to play protected files.
If you're trying to play your copy-protected files on a new computer, you can migrate your protected music from one computer to another by doing the following:
Windows Media Player 7.1 or later
1.
Try to play the copy-protected file again.
2.
In the message that appears, click the More Information button.
3.
Follow the instructions for migrating your licenses.
Windows Media Player 7
1.
Download the Personal License Update Wizard for Windows Media Player (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0048.mspx)and follow the instructions.
2.
Try to play the copy-protected file again.
3.
In the message that appears, click the More Information button.
4.
Follow the instructions for migrating your licenses.
A license can be migrated ten times. After this limit is reached, you will receive an error when you try to migrate the license again (for more information, see the Windows Media Player FAQ). When this occurs, you will need to rip the file from the CD again.
Note If you still have the CD in your possession, you can rip the tracks from the CD again, but with copy protection turned off.

It is not the MP3 player but the DRM copy protection on the cd. DO NOT BUY CDs WITH DRM PROTECTION. There are ways around the DRM - rip the cd into another format with software designed for this purpose.

If you used Windows Media Player to copy the Cd's to your PC the default setting is to "copy protect my music". To change that go to Windows Media Player>Tools>Options>Rip Music and uncheck the "copy protect my music" box. You will need to delete the previously ripped music from your device. Then re-rip the Cd's and transfer them to your device. Best of Luck.