50¢ pen thwarts multi-million audio protection sch

ATTEMPTS BY TIN PAN ALLEY INC to protect audio disks from being used in PCs and Macintoshes appear susceptible to being thwarted by the use of a marker pen used judiciously on the disks.

That's the conclusion anywhere come to by Chip Online, which describes two methods of thwarting the expensive audio protection scheme by either using Post It Notes or a cheap pen.

Earlier in the week we reported that Apple had told its users to beware of audio disks put out by Sony and other record companies which could jam people's drives.

The record industry wants to prevent mass copying of platters from the like of Celine Dion and Shakira as well as Jello from being reproduced and sold on the black market.

To that end they have introduced copy protection schemes on audio CDs which could also thwart plans by computer manufacturers to make the PC the centre of your home entertainment system.

Here's details of the two methods Chip describes, one using Post It notes and the other using a marker pen. µ

See Also
Shakira, J-Lo, Celine mess with Macs