September 17, 2002
Most desperate anti-piracy move so far?

New Scientist reports:

A US record company has issued reviewers with portable CD players that are glued shut to prevent two new albums from being pirated online before their official releases.

Epic Records Group has taken the drastic step of sealing CD players shut and gluing headphones onto them to stop digital copies being made from promotional albums. The albums involved are Riot Act by Pearl Jam and Scarlet's Walk by Tori Amos.

A spokeswoman for Epic told New Scientist: "Obviously we have a problem with piracy and this is one of the ways we're trying to address it. We're trying lots of things."

I can only concur with Jim Peters, of the UK lobby group Campaign for Digital Rights (CDR), who says this latest measure reflects the difficulty of trying to control listeners' use of digital music:
"It's a sign of desperation, [...] I think its time for them to start rethinking their business model because it's getting ridiculous."

Sponsored links
Related Entries
Comments

"they cost this much because of rampant piracy."
-- Them

"We pirate them because of rampant cost increases."
-- Us

[posted in the wrong place earlier -- thanks Anders]

Posted by: lowmagnet on September 17, 2002 01:13 AM

What?! You mean they haven't encased the apparatus in a helm-like block of resin? I could still pirate the music with alligator clips and a careful screw driver. I'm really surprised they haven't "invited" reviewers to listen to the tunes in a "special listening room" in which no recording equipment is allowed, and into which hypnotic gas is injected.

Posted by: l.m.orchard on September 17, 2002 05:58 AM
Post a comment
Name:


Email:
(Will not be displayed if you enter a website below. Otherwise, it will be displayed "spam protected")


Website:
(if you have one)


What do you want to say?
(please don't bother posting "spam" (pornography, viagra-sales etc - I will delete such comments anyway))


Remember info?



Referrers to this page
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jacobsen.no/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/anders/MT/mt-tb.cgi/291
szymona.net: CD Company (September 17, 2002 12:40 AM)
"[via Anders Jacobsen] New Scientist is reporting that, in an effort to combat scurvy pirates, Epic Records are sending out hermetically sealed CD players containing the upcoming discs by Bon Jovi (eww) and Tori Amos (yay!). It's so bad that"
szymona.net: CD Company Gets Tough on the Pirates (September 17, 2002 12:42 AM)
"[via Anders Jacobsen] New Scientist is reporting that, in an effort to combat scurvy pirates, Epic Records are sending out hermetically sealed CD players containing the upcoming discs by Pearl Jam (yawn) and Tori Amos (yay!). It's so bad that"
lowmagnet.org: dinosaurs will die (September 17, 2002 01:54 AM)
"I'm fed up with the music industry. Dinosaurs will die (thanks NOFX)"
The Blog of Harald: Epic Records goes overboard (September 17, 2002 08:12 PM)
"[via Anders Jacobsen] New Scientist reports: A US record company has issued reviewers with portable CD players that are"

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
© Anders Jacobsen
[extrospection.com photography]