Since the dawn of Napster a few years ago, the recording industry has been trying to play catch up as they lose business to MP3 rippers sharing their files via P2P networks. Ask the average computer savvy person in their 20s when they last purchased a CD. For many it has been years. The recording industry has to be feeling the pinch.
In response to this manic ripping, BMG Music has released a CD loaded with anticopying protection in a move to prevent the ripping of files to ones computer. BMG is using anticopying technology from SunnComm Technologie on a new album by some unknown artist by the name of Anthony Hamilton.
Here's my favourite part of the story. Princeton Ph.D. student Alex Halderman has explained on his website how he disabled this copy-protection technology. It's rather complex, so you technophobes should stop reading right now. Halderman explains that you can prevent Windows' AutoRun feature from loading the copy-protection software by - wait for it - simply holding down the Shift key. That's right, if you hold down the shift key, you can still rip the CD as usual. Pure brilliance.
This is an excellent example of why the recording industry will lose this battle. They will always be playing catch-up to a small army of geeks who spend hours upon hours in their basement discovering workarounds to foil the recording industry's best efforts. The only hope for the recording industry? You'll have to read my previous blog on the subject for the answer.
