Gizmodo: CDs

Sound Wave: The Vinyl Strikes Back

Mark Wilson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EDT

Did you think that records would stand idly by while MP3s took over the music industry? Sure, they turned a blind eye to 8-track and cassettes. Then CDs got a pass, too. But those were physical mediums, brothers-from-another-mothers. And if compact discs don't have the cojones to stand up to the digital music revolution, vinyl will just have to come back from the dead and start kicking some 1s and 0s butt.

OK, actually it's sculpture by Jean Shin that's on display at the Manhattan Museum of Arts and Design through February 15. [NYT via Apartment Therapy]

$7,100 CD Player Probably Isn't Worth It

Adam Frucci — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:20:00 EDT

At this point, audio CDs are essentially a dead medium, with digital files clearly taking over in terms of popularity and use. Which makes it a strange time to introduce a $7,100, belt-driven CD player. But that's just what CEC has done.

Beyond the fact that CDs are yesterday's news, the idea of paying so much money for a CD player is kind of bananas to begin with. I mean, who needs a belt drive in their CD player? This isn't a record player, it's not like the music plays too fast or too slow on crappier CD players. I'm sure this thing does a great job of stabilizing the disc during the rotation, but you won't notice that when you listen to it.

Really, it's understandable for audiophiles to prefer CDs to digital files just because digital files are usually compressed and sound like crap compared with CDs. But any CD player will read your CDs as good as any other. Save your $7,100 for something more worthwhile. [New Launches]

Great Idea: Store Those Old CDs in Your Biceps!

Mark Wilson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

As our favorite media become more and more digitally-based, that pile of CDs and DVDs is looking increasingly wasteful. Sure, you can sell some of your stuff on eBay or through a garage sale, but what about that bargain bin edition of Bach classics that's already sitting on your hard drive? Here's a clever use for the media that falls between the cracks. Dumbbells made of 150 CDs (75 on each side) weigh 10lbs a pop—not a bad amount for high rep semi-aerobic lifting. Plus, they look way more geek-hot than the mass-produced gunmetal crap you use at the gym. [Daily Danny via MAKE]

Music On Cassette Tape Is Still the Bomb...If You're In Prison

John Mahoney — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:40:00 EDT

Los Angeles mail order catalog Pack Central may have found the last untapped pocket of consumers willing to pay retail for their music on physical formats—the cellblocks of our great nation's prisons. And not just any format—turns out, music on cassette is the only way to get tunes that isn't screened out as a potential deadly weapon. Wait, they still sell new music on cassettes?

Apparently so. Weezy's "Tha Carter III," Usher's "Here I Stand" and Mariah Carey's "E=MC2" are all among Pack Central's current best selling tapes. If you're man enough to rock the new Mariah Carey on cassette in the slammer, my hat's off to you—I only feel comfortable singling you out from the safe confines of the internet.

Anyway, CDs are apparently too easy to splinter into a shiv (for disciplining the dude who laughed at your Mariah tapes), and the company even has to remove the metal screws from their tapes before shipping them out to get by the screeners (you guys make a good point below, though—I guess the cassette shivs are not as worrisome). The guy who keeps all those 20-year-old Walkmen in operating condition must be swimming in bartered cigarettes. [NYTimes, image tapedeck.org]

Stereos, Tapes, CDs and Vinyl Records: My Frustrating Romance With Old-Fashioned Audio Gear

AddyDugdale — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT

So, here's the thing. My stereo components have been in boxes gathering dust ever since I became a fully fledged member of the iPosse. Ditto for my CDs, cherished cassette tapes and even a few essential vinyl records. Since Jesus and I are relocating to London, and I've ripped everything I really listen to, you might say it's a no-brainer to throw it all out. But it's not that easy to do, is it?

During the two decades that I've had my components, I've run the gamut from vinyl to cassette and CD, and all the way back again. The black boxes are part of my life, they've stoked parties, soaked up miserable tears, impressing and depressing the menfolk in my life. I've sawed antique walnut cabinets to pieces in order to accommodate multi-plugs, connectors and dust covers and now all I rely on is a little white fag-packet-sized box that stores more music than I could ever hope to accumulate.

How many times have you bought the same album? I've got multiple formats for quite a few, but here's a perfect example: I spent a year in France as a teenager and, having just a Walkman and portable speakers for company, bought myself Mlah by Les Negresses Vertes. A couple of years later, when I was deep into the house scene in Paris, and running a music fanzine, I persuaded their record label to give me the 12" of Zobi La Mouche. Nice buggers that they are, they threw in the album on vinyl, too. A few years later, and I went to Madrid for the first time, I found the CD on special offer in a record store and, having only my laptop for company, snapped it up.

Several years—and moves—later, I get my first iPod. Easy peasy, I think, as I sit down with a pile of CDs to rip. Mlah? Meh. According to my laptop, the disc was unreadable. It was time to open up an iTunes account. Sleazy teasy record labels, more like. Call me a fool, but I've acquired Mlah FOUR TIMES OVER. How many more formats can the record companies come up with? Hologram disco MP3s? Dubbly sound that goes to Eleven? Free horse and cart when you purchase the high-quality, 4-swazillion-kbps version? Even the tracks I've ripped may already be obsolete. To quote Johnny Rotten, "Ever get the feeling you've been had?"

It's Thursday afternoon and, as I lie on my bed and type this, one of the movers is transferring my clothes into one of those hanging boxes. I reckon I've got about 20 minutes to decide whether my boxed-up Denon tape deck, Technics amp and turntable, NAD CD player and KEF speakers make into the van marked "Blighty." It is, however, a bit of a no-brainer. How could I abandon those stalwarts of my life, passé though they may be, in favor of a simpler system whose audio quality isn't exactly fabulous?

Perhaps the clincher, though, is that my iPod is currently filed under B for busticated. Into the van my components go, then. Whether they ever come out of their boxes again is another story.

Gorgeous Shots Of Microwaved CDs

Mark Wilson — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

We haven't nuked a CD since the '90s either, but maybe that's only because we didn't have the right camera setup to capture the digital destruction in all of its glory. The Wacky Archives features a few remarkable shots of our ex-favorite pastime and we strongly recommend it as an opulently wasteful way to burn three minutes of your precious Saturday. The microwave, however, paid the ultimate price:

...like a robot exploded in there, its silver blood splattered with Pollockian imprecision. [Wacky Archives via MAKE]

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Come Pre-Ripped For $9,000

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:30:00 EDT

If you're rich enough to have a dedicated media server from the likes of Crestron, Elan, Escient, Kaleidescape, ReQuest or Apple—a strange one to mix in, I thought—you can go off and buy Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time already ripped and encoded on a NAS RAID drive, for the low price of $9,000, thanks to a company called Terra-San. I can see several problems with this:

• If you love music enough to install a server, you probably already own (or, um, have borrowed) at least 500 really good albums, potentially a decent overlap of stuff. Like me, you may have accumulated most of the 500 totally by accident, not to mention a lot of other less popular music.

• Assuming you don't have the CDs in pocket, and your digital downloads just don't cut the mustard, you can probably buy them all at an average of $8 or $9 a piece, and many are pre-collected in box sets at substantial discounts—and with attractive keepsake booklets to boot. Besides, most of this stuff would be easy to find in used bins, too. We're not exactly talking about the rare and out-of-print here. At most you'd be out somewhere between $4,500 or $5,000.

• The argument that this will save you time ripping CDs only holds true if you can't find someone to rip your CDs for less than $4,000. Ask any kid in the market for a plasma TV if he'd rip all your CDs and he'll probably name a price between $1,000 and $2,000—throw in a USB drive for free—and believe he's getting away with murder. [Electronic House]

CDs Get Into the Groove, Do Music the 45RPM Way

Kit Eaton — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:22:46 EDT

This is a story of a not so environmentally friendly, but rather groovy repurposing idea: reusing CDs as records (remember them?) At the UK's Futuresonic festival last week, a guy named Aleks Kolkowski had his vintage record-cutting machine ready to carve sound tracks into old CDs and DVDs. People simply had to turn up with an old disc and a sound file and he'd "overwrite" the CD with a track ready to be played on a turntable. Neat! I'd have been there asking Aleks for a copy of my first ever record (that'll be the theme to Watership Down— I know, I know) on a crappy old AOL CD I found recently. [Futuresonic via DIYDaily via ]

Even the RIAA isn't Ballsy Enough to Claim Ripping CDs is Illegal

Adam Frucci — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:00:08 EST

So a few weeks ago we reported that the RIAA had claimed that just ripping CDs was enough to get you sued. Later, jumping on the bandwagon, the Washington Post reported the same thing. Turns out, it's not exactly true. The RIAA claims that ripping a CD and then putting the files into a shared folder is illegal, which we disagree with but is a little less flabbergasting. The confusion arose with the wording, which called ripped copies "unauthorized."

What's the difference between unauthorized and illegal? Well, when the RIAA says ripped copies of CDs are unauthorized, they're pretty much saying they don't like it but can't stop you from doing it. When they say it's illegal, they're taking your ass to court and trying to ruin your life because you shared a Coldplay CD on Kazaa back in 2002. This isn't to say that the RIAA has improved its standing in our eyes — no, we still think it's the douchiest group of douches around — but even they know that no one will accept that ripping a CD in itself is illegal. [TechDirt]

Disc Holder Has a Strong Pimp Hand

Sean Fallon — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:00:18 EST

If you have any DVDs, HD DVDs, Blu-ray Discs or even some old-timey CDs lying around that are in desperate need of a bizarre storage solution, look no further than the Art of Hand Stand Disc Holder. It doesn't do much beyond what you see here, but it will definitely add an interesting look to any desktop or home theater. [Product Page]

Lamp CD Tower Is Beautifully Obsolete

Sean Fallon — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:00:44 EST

The Light CD Tower by Kwang Hoo Lee was inspired by the fact that people spend an ever-increasing amount of time sitting in front of their computers. In the end, he came up with a design that merged a lamp and a CD holder into one sweet looking practical device. Unfortunately, the design is not without its flaws. For one thing, the lamp would be rendered useless when filled with CDs, the device is battery powered (why not USB?) and CDs are on the fast track to obsolecence. Still, not a bad concept piece from a design perspective. [Designboom via Gearfuse via DVICE]

Extreme Repair For Extremely F*cked Up CDs

Adrian Covert — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:55:06 EST

Instructables has a tutorial on a CD repair technique designed to bring nearly any disc (barring any cracks, breaks, etc...) back from the dead. The fix requires you to heat the underside of the CD over a gas burner, boil it in water and dry off your freshly resurfaced disc. The process seems to leave a slim margin of error, so if you're trying to recover something valuable, you better know what you're doing. [Instructables]

Digital Porn Stash Gets Guy Murdered By Girlfriend

Mark Wilson — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:31:03 EDT

Just a heads-up to all of our Puritan Gizmodo readers: 58-year-old Chicago native Jeanette Strowder confessed to shooting and killing her boyfriend, Jesse Martin, after finding his stash of porn stored on CDs. We initially assumed that the CDs must have contained some really freaky content to warrant the response, or at least some juicy ex-girlfriend shots, but apparently it was a (standard?) collection of "nude photographs of women."

On an entirely unrelated, lighter note, Gizmodo is naming today National Make Space On Your Hard Drive Day. Because one can never have too many free gigabytes on the old computer. For Word documents. And MP3 files. No siree Bob. [chicagosuntimes via dvorakuncensored]

Disney's New CDVU+ Sounds Like Every Other Stupid Enhanced CD Format

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:29:05 EDT

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the reason CD sales suck is not the fact that there isn't enough crap loaded onto the disc. Enhanced CDs have been around for over a decade; hell, many of the first interactive CD-ROMs came from the record industry. Does anyone remember a single one? Apparently Disney doesn't, because this week its Hollywood Records label introduced the CDVU+ format. The who what?

Slated to debut with the August 7 release of an album by the undoubtedly wholesome teen punk band The Jonas Brothers, CDVU+ will include "digital magazine extras, song lyrics, band photos and other extras" says Reuters. (They said "extras" twice; they must like "extras.") Oh, and as a shoutout to the greenest teens, CDVU+ "replaces the traditional CD booklet and plastic jewel case with recyclable packaging." To access the content you don't need some fancy new CDVU+ player. No sir, you just need a computer.

You know what I hate? When marketing innovations are disguised as new technologies. I for one won't be buying any CDVU+ discs, thanks much. And unlike many people I respect, I actually buy music. [Reuters]

Disc Pod Dispenser Makes Past Methods of Disc Retrieval Painfully Obsolete

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:55:00 EDT

We see a lot of pointless gadgets around here, but sometimes a product comes along that blows us away with its utter lack of utility. The Disc Pod Dispenser is basically a Pez dispenser for discs. Load it up, push a button, and one pops out. Is twisting the plastic case off of a spindle when you want a disc really too much effort to put forward?

If you're in any way interested in dropping about $14 on this and shipping it from England, you might want to check out the Heartbeat Indicator mouse while you're at it, since your cardiologist might give you one in a couple years anyway. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [via Slashgear]

Latest Piracy Havens Sweating the Crackdown: Used CD Shops

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 08 May 2007 10:00:06 EDT

In Florida and Utah (with Wisconsin and Rhode Island following suit) you'd think shops dealing in used CDs were cogs in a vast piracy machine given the way state legislators are starting to regulate them. Florida so far is the worst, according to Billboard:

In Florida, the new legislation requires all stores buying second-hand merchandise for resale to apply for a permit, would be required to thumb-print CD sellers and get a copy of their state-issued identity documents, such as a driver's license. Furthermore, stores could only issue store credit—not pay cash—in exchange for traded CDs, and then would be required to hold them for a 30-day period, before re-selling them.

DVD and video game sellers aren't entirely off the hook, either.

Stores selling used videos and video games have to hold them for 15 days (undoubtedly meaning they'll gently remind you to ~~screw yourself~~ sell your games back sooner to stock the shelves) but don't need a permit.

The recording industry's not exactly upset by the new laws, since they've always begrudged the money they "lose" on second-hand sales, as have game publishers. But since they're so big on preserving record stores "anywhere near a campus," I wonder if the inherent conflict over the damage this will do to independent record shops is ripping their tiny, black, industry-executive hearts in two? Not that it matters, since they can always fill the gaps with money.

Where's the last spot you bought a CD? – Matt Buchanan

New Laws Threaten Used CD Market [Billboard via Ars Technica]
Image via Flickr

RIAA Boycott Tip: Buy Used CDs

Adam Frucci — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:45:00 EDT

You haven't forgotten about the boycott, have you? I should hope not. If you're having trouble not going out and buying discs from artists you like, why not save yourself some money and fulfill your little consumery desires at the same time? Buy used CDs.

There are tons of record stores out there with sizable used CD departments, full of gems that you wouldn't expect to find for so cheap. If you're too lazy to go to a physical store, there are plenty of places online to buy used CDs such as Prex and Spun. There, now you can buy your precious CDs without the RIAA getting any of your money. –Adam Frucci

RIAA Boycott [Gizmodo]

EMI Says The CD Is Dead, Is It?

Gizloco — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:57:14 EDT

The CEO of EMI Music (you know, one of the biggest, baddest record companies out there) just recently went on the record saying that, in its current incarnation, the CD is dead. Muerto. Tot. "The CD as it is right now is dead," he said, while burning £100 notes. (Digital music sales accounted for 11 percent of sales in the first half of this year, with CDs accounting for more than 70 percent.)

As it is, now that iTunes and other means of obtaining music are now quite popular with all the cool kids, where do you stand on the status of the CD?

Feel free to vent against the RIAA and other New World Order institutions in the comments box. As for me, I still listen to vinyl. (How else could I get the latest trance beats?) – Nicholas Deleon

EMI Music CEO says the CD is 'dead' [MarketWatch]

Wharfdale Hard Drive-Based Hi-Fi System

Gizloco — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:32:34 EDT

Since the prospect of placing a computer inside a home theater still doesn't quite turn people on, Wharfdale figures it can provide the best of both worlds with a 40GB hard drive-based Hi-Fi stereo system. As you might expect, a 40GB hard drive is the heart of the system and offers enough space to hold an estimated 8,000 songs, either USB-imported, pre-existing MP3s or MP3s ripped by the unit itself. Like other, similar audio systems, this Wharefdale unit will query the appropriate databases when playing CDs in order to display accurate (well, for the most part) song information.

The two speakers have a power rating of 30 watts, plus you'll find an AM/FM radio, a svelte LCD for track information and CD-R/RW playback. Is it worth some $380? is the question, though. – Nicholas Deleon

Wharfedale Hard Disk Hi-Fi. [The Red Ferret Journal]

Xipper CD/DVD Jewel Case Opener

Gizloco — Wed, 31 May 2006 13:59:29 EDT

How many times have you come home from the local retailer with a shrink-wrapped CD or DVD only to work yourself into a fit of rage when you can't get the packaging open without pulling a muscle? If you answered "several times," even if you're just fibbing for the sake of this article, perhaps the Xipper will save you from needless trips to the emergency room. It's a small device that, when properly activated next to a shrink-wrapped jewel case, sees a small edge protrude. Simply slide the Xipper down the case and let the tiny blade work its magic. Since the Xipper comes in a CD and DVD version, there's no worrying about getting the blade to properly align with different types of jewel cases.

You can lay down $7.95 for one Xipper, or $6.95 for sets of three or more. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Solutions via OhGizmo!]

Power User - The Best of Lifehacker

Gina Trapani — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:30:00 EST

This week at Lifehacker: Unlock the power of the scroll wheel and mouse gestures and drive Firefox without taking your hand off the clicker. Fix scratched CDs with toothpaste, Pledge, Pinesol or peanut butter. Get flight status information, horoscopes and drink recipes SMS'ed directly to your phone. Make sure your laptop battery doesn't poop out during the key scene of that DVD movie you're watching. Finally, get AIM on your PSP.

Ditch Those CDs for an iPod

gizmodo.com — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:31:11 EST

Here's a hit-or-miss idea: Millenium Music wants to give you an iPod in exchange for your CDs. Yup. You can rip all your music, then sell the hard copy in favor of an iPod. Just stop by or mail in your CDs to Millenium and as long as they're not scratched to hell or missing anything for the most part, you can trade up to an iPod. I mean, sure, you paid a lot of money for the CDs in the first place, but get over it and you'll be fine. Here's how it works:

45 CDs = 512 MB iPod Shuffle
65 CDs = 1 GB iPod Shuffle
85 CDs = 2 GB iPod Nano
110 CDs = 4 GB Nano
130 CDs = 30 GB iPod
175 CDs = 60 GB iPod

65 CDs for a 1GB iPod shuffle seems like a lot to me. I mean, say you went to your local CD store and traded in 65 CDs at an average of $3 a CD. That's $195. Enough for a 1GB shuffle and some accessories and music from iTunes. Ultimately it depends on you and your desire to go digital, giving up your CDs in the bargain. So think about it.

Trade Your CDs for an iPod [Ars Technica]

Escient Fireball SE-D1 Media Manager

gizmodo.com — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:18:19 EST

Are you a complete slob? Can't be bothered to dig through your CDs and DVDs? Then this is probably a decent product for you. The Fireball SE-D1 from Escient not only packs a cool name, but a lot of organization power. Using the on-screen interface, you can navigate your way through up to 400 discs provided you have a Sony DVP-CX777ES DVD/CD changer, with which it works flawlessly. The SE-D1 will access the CDDB and MovieDB to get information on your titles, which is very helpful when you're dealing with 400 discs. In addition to the on-screen interface, the SE-D1 can be controlled from any standard web browser, wireless PDA or web pad using standard wireless home networks, which is totally awesome for when you're on the couch with your laptop and you need to ditch the Dean Martin for some Slayer. Need to get organized right now? Be prepared to shell out $999 for the Fireball SE-D1. Out in December.

Escient Fireball SE-D1 Digital DVD and Music Manager [eHomeUpgrade]

Sony Admits Screwing Up With DRM, Offers Replacements

gizmodo.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 11:41:12 EST

Sony knows they screwed up finally and is now admitting their DRM allows hackers to penetrate your system and royally screw you over. So now Sony has killed it's DRM program in the meantime and is pulling most DRM-protected CDs off the shelves. However, Sony is going to be a gentleman this time around and is offering to replace CDs affected by the XCP copy-protection software that's embedded in the CDs if you bought some. But how can you tell if you bought one of 2.1 million CDs sold with the evil-DRM? Easy. A list was put together of 47 CDs that include the protection. So play it safe kids, and go stick it to Sony by demanding new CDs.

CDs affected by the DRM [Idiot Abroad]
Sony to pull controversial CDs, offer swap [USA Today]

iLoad Inventor Vents, Is Out on Bail

johnb — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 14:03:33 EST

So we get a call the other day about the iLoad, which, on the surface, seems, shall we say, "no longer necessary." It's the iLoad PR fella, good guy, it seems. He's going to send us a bit on this new product, all is well, we'll take a look, make a more refined judgement. We see hundreds of ideas like these—on the surface, they're fine. Given a bit of thought, they're kind of silly. More power to the inventor. Yeah, team. Different strokes for different folks.

So I'm not really concerned until the inventor, a certain Sanford B. Schupper, dropped us a line today:

If you want to pontificate or seek self-aggrandizement either go into politics or don t do it at someone else s expense. Your business credentials don t justify such public scathing of something you have no first hand info about. Think before you speak ...or get a towel and some lotion and head for the bathroom...might be more fulfilling and won t be at the expense of others.
No need to respond. Just grow up.

Sandy

So we get flamed over a silly CD player that dumps audio to an iPod with no visible means of getting the CD track info via the Interweb—maybe it's got wireless, or maybe it's vaporware: the website doesn't say—and I'm starting to get a little curious. Why would Mr. Schupper be so angry about this. Could he be making shit up?

Then I found this story from the Colorado Springs Gazette. The gist appears here:

A Monument businessman convicted of theft and securities fraud won t be allowed to travel to China to market a product he invented, a judge ruled Friday.
Sanford Schupper, 56, has been convicted of defrauding Citibank Visa of as much as $200,000 and sentenced to six years in prison. In another case, Schupper was convicted of swindling a family out of $872,000 and sentenced to eight years in prison. ...

Friday, Schupper s lawyer asked senior state District Court Judge Donald Campbell to grant Schupper permission to go to China to market his latest invention, an accessory for Apple iPods.

Pop through to read on.

Schupper says the product could make him millions and allow him to pay court-ordered restitution to victims of his crimes. He hasn t revealed specifics about the product because of fears someone might steal the idea.

What's that? Paranoid inventors? Vaporware? Securities fraud? Yes, friends, another magical visit to the wondrous underworld of tech!

This is what I've dug up on our little buddy. Generally, it's bad to antagonize your audience, Mr. Schupper, even though you are under a bit of stress.

Monument Gun Shop Case [KSCourts]
Same [Findlaw]
iLoad whois [Whois]
Parent Company - Wingspan Partners Inc [Wingspan]

UPDATE - Sent him a quick reply with some of the above links and got this:

And how do you relate that with the subject matter? I don't want to enter a dialog with you. As I said before, don't reply. Just consider what I had to say and your own reasons for being very negative without credentials that support such observations
Try and find something positive to write about. Good day

Please do not reply further

Sony Stops Production of Content Protection CDs

Travis Hudson — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 14:48:18 EST

Sony BMG announced that they will be temporarily suspending the production of CDs containing the First4InternetXCP content protection. Why you may ask? Well they tried to stop the hax0rs of the world from stealing music, so the hax0rs used Sony's technology to exploit a Trojan virus. Touch Sony!

The technology employed by Sony to protect its music from illegitimate use was picked up by security software as a rootkit which hid files from Windows and made them impossible to detect. But simply using letters '$sys$' in a filename means that any such file will be hidden, even malicious files. And this is exactly what has happened with the latest virus.

Sony has distributed a patch to all anti-virus manufacturers to protect against this specific type of virus, so update those definitions kids and don t let the man get you down.

Sony Suspends Controversial CD Production [PC Pro]
New Virus uses SOny BMG software [CNN Tech]

Sony Mac Rootkit

johnb — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:40:19 EST

Hey, girls, do you believe in rootkits? Well Sony's got something to say about it, and it goes like this: poison every piece of media that comes through your front door with badly written malware. Infect Macs and PCs indiscriminately and cause all sorts of bad will in the techie world. Then pretend it never happened and offer a skeezy/non-existant removal option.

Basically, we've got a Mac version of the DRM that infects XP machines. When you pop in the disk, it installs a few excellent pieces of warez and angers me. I'm so done with physical media. ITMS/bittorrent all the way from now on.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of anyone installing kernel extensions on my Mac. In Sony's defense, upon closer reading of the EULA, they essentially tell you that they will be installing software. Also, this is apparently not the same technology used in the recent Windows rootkits (made by XCP), but rather a DRM codebase developed by SunnComm, who promotes their Mac-aware DRM technology on their site.

[Thanks, Hector]

Boycott Sony products: Sony music CDs can install kernel extensions on Mac OS X [MacDailyNews]

iLoad - Load Your iPod Without PC

johnb — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:13:35 EST

Aren't we all past the point where we need to rip our CDs? The whole "Rip, Mix, Burn" era peaked in 2002 and anyone with CDs at this point should probably just keep listening to the Technics 100-disk changer and give it up. Anyway, the iLoad is a little thingie that rips CDs to your iPod. I'm thinking this is a proof-of-concept patent thing for future lawsuits—"PATENT 1,100,033,032,095 - A device that removes data from compact disks and transfers it to a portable music player"— but we'll see what comes of it. No specs or info yet, just a "Spam me" link.

Product Page [iLoad]