Post by kim on Mar 20, 2003 15:22:23 GMT -5
Music Industry Unveils New Piracy-Proof Format
Music bosses have unveiled a revolutionary new recording format
that they hope will help win the war on illegal file sharing
which is thought to be costing the industry millions of dollars
in lost revenue. Nicknamed the Record, the new format takes the
form of a black, vinyl disc measuring 12 inches in diameter,
which must be played on a specially designed turntable.
"We can state with absolute certainty that no computer in the
world can access the data on this disc," said spokesman Brett
Campbell. "We are also confident that no-one is going to be
able to produce pirate copies in this format without going to a
heck of a lot of trouble. This is without doubt the best anti-
piracy invention the music industry has ever seen." As part of
the invention's rigorous testing process, the designers gave
some discs to a group of teenage computer experts who regularly
use file swapping software such as Limewire and gnutella and
who admit to pirating music CDs.
Despite several days of trying, none of them were able to hack
into the disc's code or access any of the music files contained
within it. "It's like, really big and stuff," said Doug
Flamboise, one of the testers. "I couldn't get it into any of
my drives. I mean, what format is it? Is it, like, from France
or something?"
In the new format, raw audio data in the form of music is
encoded by physically etching grooves onto the vinyl disc. The
sound is thus translated into variations on the disc's surface
in a process that industry insiders are describing as
completely revolutionary and stunningly clever.
To decode the data stored on the disc, the listener must use a
special player which contains a stylus that runs along the
grooves on the record surface, reading the indentations and
transforming the movements back into audio that can be fed
through loudspeakers.
Even Shawn Fanning, the man who invented Napster, admits the
new format will make file swapping much more difficult. "I've
never seen anything like this," he told reporters. "How does it
work?"
As rumours that a Taiwanese company has been secretly
developing a 12 inch wide, turntable -driven, stylus-based,
firewire drive remain unconfirmed, it would appear that the
music industry may, at last, have found the pirate-proof format
it has long been searching for....
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Music bosses have unveiled a revolutionary new recording format
that they hope will help win the war on illegal file sharing
which is thought to be costing the industry millions of dollars
in lost revenue. Nicknamed the Record, the new format takes the
form of a black, vinyl disc measuring 12 inches in diameter,
which must be played on a specially designed turntable.
"We can state with absolute certainty that no computer in the
world can access the data on this disc," said spokesman Brett
Campbell. "We are also confident that no-one is going to be
able to produce pirate copies in this format without going to a
heck of a lot of trouble. This is without doubt the best anti-
piracy invention the music industry has ever seen." As part of
the invention's rigorous testing process, the designers gave
some discs to a group of teenage computer experts who regularly
use file swapping software such as Limewire and gnutella and
who admit to pirating music CDs.
Despite several days of trying, none of them were able to hack
into the disc's code or access any of the music files contained
within it. "It's like, really big and stuff," said Doug
Flamboise, one of the testers. "I couldn't get it into any of
my drives. I mean, what format is it? Is it, like, from France
or something?"
In the new format, raw audio data in the form of music is
encoded by physically etching grooves onto the vinyl disc. The
sound is thus translated into variations on the disc's surface
in a process that industry insiders are describing as
completely revolutionary and stunningly clever.
To decode the data stored on the disc, the listener must use a
special player which contains a stylus that runs along the
grooves on the record surface, reading the indentations and
transforming the movements back into audio that can be fed
through loudspeakers.
Even Shawn Fanning, the man who invented Napster, admits the
new format will make file swapping much more difficult. "I've
never seen anything like this," he told reporters. "How does it
work?"
As rumours that a Taiwanese company has been secretly
developing a 12 inch wide, turntable -driven, stylus-based,
firewire drive remain unconfirmed, it would appear that the
music industry may, at last, have found the pirate-proof format
it has long been searching for....
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
