It seems that Capitol Records has some sort of new copy protection system, that automatically, silently, installs "helpful" copy protection software on MacOS and Windows as soon as you insert the CD into default systems. I'm not sure exactly what it does yet, but I am sure regreting actually purchasing said media now... they don't deserve my money if they choose to pull stupid stunts like this. Installing software without your permission sounds like viral malware behaviour to me. I certainly hope the AV companies put signatures into their products for this crap.

They include some sort of uninstaller buried on there for Windows, but I see no such thing for MacOS.

The test with Velvet Revolver, a group made of alumni from Stone Temple Pilots, Guns N' Roses and others, was the largest yet for BMG. The test uses MediaMax copy protection from BMG partner SunnComm International. The label says it does plan a growing number of protected releases over the course of this year, but is still choosing which CDs will include the technology on a case-by-case basis.

As in earlier tests by BMG and SunnComm, the copy protection on the Velvet Revolver disc can be simply disabled by pushing the "Shift" key on a computer while the CD is loading, which blocks the SunnComm software from being installed. The companies say they have long been aware of the work-around but that they were not trying to create an unhackable protection.

However, the inability to move songs to Apple's popular digital music player, as well as to other devices that don't support Microsoft's Windows Media digital rights management services, is a serious shortcoming. Jacobs says SunnComm recognizes that--and that the company's next version will go beyond the Microsoft files and be able to create multiple kinds of digital files that will be compatible with the iPod.

Digital radio broadcasts that bring CD-quality sound to the airwaves could lead to unfettered song copying if protections are not put in place, a recording-industry trade group warned on Friday.

RIAA officials said digital-radio players could soon allow listeners to record certain songs automatically when they are broadcast, allowing them to build a free library of music they otherwise might pay for and distribute it to millions of others over the Internet.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio, which broadcast digital signals by satellite, do not pose the same risk because those companies would be hurt by song copying and thus have an incentive to limit it, RIAA officials said.

U.S. Patent No. 6,748,582, granted and assigned Tuesday to Microsoft, covers the use of a "task list" in a software development environment.

The patented technology essentially integrates certain comments left in the source code of an application under development with an accompanying checklist. Leave a "TODO" comment in the source code, and an authoring application automatically creates an item in the task list. Check an item off on the task list, and the corresponding source code comment is changed.

While the new patent is specific enough to software development that vacationers penning "what to pack" lists don't have to worry, it fits with Microsoft's ongoing efforts to enlarge its patent portfolio.

Filmmaker Michael Moore began streaming scenes from his controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" on the Web on Thursday.

The film takes a critical, highly personal look at events surrounding the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and has become a cause celebre since Moore revealed that Walt Disney had refused to distribute it.

The movie is set to arrive in theaters June 25, but the curious can get an early taste from the trailer. Clips show Moore in fine confrontational style, inviting members of Congress to enlist their children in the Army and send them to Iraq, and driving through Washington reading the text of the Patriot Act over a loudspeaker, for the benefit of lawmakers who didn't read the bill before approving it.

Chuck D of Public Enemy has always been a strong supporter of freeing up music. Years ago, when Napster first appeared on the scene, he was one of the first to publicly stand up in support of Napster, and even went on TV to debate Lars Ulrich from Metallica on the subject. Here's a fascinating interview with Chuck D & Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy, talking about how copyright law forced them to change the style of music they created entirely. They claim that two of their earlier albums would be impossible to create today, but were possible early on when record execs hadn't trained their legal guns on music sampling yet. Now, those same songs, that used many different samples would be impossibly expensive. Chuck D claims that the group had to "change our whole style" between albums in order to take into account new copyright rules. Also, when asked about others taking their music and remixing it themselves, he says: "I think my feelings are obvious. I think it's great."

Even without aliens, the facility has its secrets, and last year while roaming the desert outside the Groom Lake base Clark stumbled upon one of them: an electronic device packed in a rugged case and buried in the dirt. Marked "U.S. Government Property," the device turned out to be a wireless transmitter, connected by an underground cable to a sensor buried nearby next to one of the unpaved roads that vein the public land surrounding the base. Together, the units act as a surveillance system, warning someone -- somewhere -- whenever a vehicle drives down that stretch of road.

"We dug up about 30 or 40 of them on various access roads leading to the base on public land," Arnu says, insisting that he and Clark always carefully reburied each unit after logging it, and even tested it with the frequency counter to make sure it was still working before moving on to the next one.

The following week, according to the station's report, FBI and Air Force agents raided Clark's trailer home in Rachel, and carted off his computer, photographs and records. The next day, Arnu got a call at work from the FBI. "They demanded that I speak with them the very same day," he says.

We've already had stories about how the recording industry is looking for any possible way to raise prices on digital downloads (showing just how little they understand the concept of an emerging market), and now we find out that the standard $1 price is really more for marketing reasons. Now that Napster has launched in the UK, they seem to think that it's a good idea to use the "1 standard unit of currency" as the main price - probably because it looks better in advertisements. So, in the US, a track is $1. In the UK it's £1. Now, while the recording industry couldn't be bothered, most users understand exchange rates, and realize that £1 = ~ $1.77 (with some fluctuations). In other words, for the sake of being able to use the "1 standard unit of currency" pricing, the recording industry gets to nearly double the price in the UK. This doesn't seem likely to encourage much adoption - but may encourage plenty of resentment. Of course, by this point, it appears the recording industry thrives on resentment.

Earlier this week Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer apparently suggested that the way to keep American jobs was to lower US professionals' pay to $55,000 - according to a report here.

According to this report on Cnet last September, Steve B and Bill G each got $551,667 in salary and $313,447 in bonuses last year.

Perhaps Steve should start by cutting his own salary by a tenth, as he is undoubtedly a US professional, and set that as the benchmark for the rest of the thousands of employees at Microsoft?

A little investigative journalism can go a long way, and Moses Avalon has turned up something rather curious: the numbers that the RIAA uses to talk about "sales" are actually just numbers relating to shipments. The gist of it is pretty simple: the RIAA has their own tracking system based on units shipped, while Nielsen Ratings bases their Soundscan tracking system on actual barcode-scanned purchases. The problem is that Soundscan shows a 10% increase in music sales when comparing the first quarter of 2004 to 1Q 2003. Yet, the RIAA insists that music sales are down. Avalon suggests that sales aren't down, only shipments are. How can that be possible? Simple: in the past, the RIAA always shipped considerably more units than were sold. Why the change? Retails stores simply want less inventory, so they order less, even though they are selling more.

In other words, the supposedly woeful state of CD sales isn't all that woeful after all. Retail outlets have been working hard to keep up with online competition, and part of that has meant following the rule of Dell: don't have inventory if you can avoid it.

If more units are being sold and fewer units are being shipped, then that means the total cost-per-CD is actually in the RIAA's favor. That is, with all things being equal, more sales and fewer shipments ads up to more profit than before, because there's less overrun and less returns from retailers who can't move product.