NYT: For Users, Napster of Old Is Just a Few Tweaks Away

[DeepModem Mom]

For Users, Napster of Old Is Just a Few Tweaks Away
By DAVID F. GALLAGHER

Published: February 21, 2005


The old Napster, circa 1999, was a vast jukebox with no controls over the illegal copying of music files. The new Napster, which sells legal downloads, is also a vast jukebox, but it was clear last week that the company still has less-than-perfect controls over illegal copying.

Word spread across the Web recently that a few tweaks of WinAmp, a popular music-playing program, and a small plug-in available on the WinAmp Web site would allow users to take a music file protected with Microsoft technology and produce an unprotected copy.

This method can convert files from other music services but it is a particular threat to Napster because of its "all you can eat" subscription model: customers pay as little as $9.95 a month for borrowing privileges at Napster's library of a million songs. The ability to create unprotected files would enable users to download as much music as possible, then cancel the subscription and walk away.

Glenn Shannon, a programmer in Tucson, first publicized the technique several weeks ago on the Web site CDFreaks.com. From there, the method moved to blogs and news sites. Napster responded on Wednesday by posting a message from its chief technical officer, Bill Pence, that played down the problem, saying the method "can be likened to the way people used to record songs from the radio onto cassette tapes."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/technology/21napster.html