Conspiracy Theory
No, not the movie with Mel Gibson. The two I'm about to present after this quote from Boing Boinger Cory Doctorow:
Most of the major labels have decided that they need to punish their remaining customers with infectious technologies. I don't trust them, so I've just stopped buying CDs. Between mashups, Creative Commons licensed music, Internet radio, and my gigantic collection of tracks ripped from my old CDs, I have all the music I need for now. If a hot band comes out with a hot album, they'd better be willing to sell me Oggs or MP3s, 'cause I've had it with CDs. There's no music worth risking my data for. -- Boing Boing Sony Post #7862
Conspiracy Theory #1: All the rootkits are developed and placed by indie music fans working as rogue agants in and against Sony, etc.. These agents hope to force everyone away from the corporate rock star machine. (If that phrase doesn't date me you're very young.)
Conspiracy Theory #2:: The music coporations are sick of people using CDs to rip tracks. Their crack team of accountants report that sales numbers prove four teenagers in Topeka, Kansas have supplied the entire world with ripped music since May 2002. (The rest of the CDs sold are stuck in eMachines endlessly playing Celine Dion.) By making CDs unusable the corporations hope to force you to buy online files "protected" by DRM or be forced to listen to Celine Dion until you disagree with Quebec sovereignty.
