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ShamelessFlirt
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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 '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?"
As rumors 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.
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 '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?"
As rumors 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.
