(TV) anti-piracy scheme

[Keith Allison <keith@marquee.demon.co.uk>]

Please forgive me for the length of this if it doesn't amuse you, but I
thought it worth forwarding:


......
RIAA BREAKTHROUGH
Music Industry Unveils New Piracy-Proof Format: A Black, Plastic Disc With 
Grooves On It  
 
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?" 

Invention: Teenage computer hackers struggled to access the new disc.

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 'needle' 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?"

Pirates: Their days are numbered.

As rumours that a Taiwanese company has been secretly developing a
12 inch wide, turntable -driven, needle-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.
 


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Keith Allison
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http://www.marquee.demon.co.uk
"The Wonder - Tom Verlaine, Television & Stuff"
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