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Sony to Offer Exchanges of Rootkit CDs

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

November 15, 2005, 11:53 AM

Facing further pressure from unhappy consumers and now artists who are upset that their music has been tarnished by the invasive copy-protection added to certain CDs, Sony BMG now says it will pull the albums off store shelves entirely. The record label is also offering to exchange the CDs for non-DRM versions.

The news follows an announcement last week in which Sony said it would suspend the manufacture of CDs with the software rootkit, known as XCP. "Sony BMG deeply regrets any inconvenience to our customers and remains committed to providing an enjoyable and safe music experience," the company said in a follow-up statement.

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By randal2k

posted Nov 16, 2005 - 4:02 PM

Exchange? LOL.
a cyber-terrorist attack on the computers of the world, adn sony wants to exchange? hmm... ok, exchange corp, named sony, for corp named, out of buisness....
the sheer stupidity.

Score: 0

By joeshmoe7

posted Nov 16, 2005 - 12:26 AM

No way. Any company that uses a rootkit once, on unsuspecting customers, will do something worse next time. Sorry SONY, don't want what you sell anymore.

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

posted Nov 16, 2005 - 12:26 AM

For years I told people Sony sucked. Maybe more people wil start to realize that now. I think the Xbox has a pretty good chance of pulling ahead and becoming number one this time.

Off topic, but I think it's kind of funny. First Sony wanted to release there PS3 this December. Then Microsoft said they're going to release the Xbox first in November. So then Sony changed to Fall 2006. And now Microsoft says now there going to release Halo 3 the same day the PS3 is going to be released. :D I think that's checkmate.

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 10:12 PM

Boycott Sony.

Score: 0

By BIL

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 6:13 PM

The local military exchange says they have no intention of selling any more Play Stations and are looking at X-Box. Maybe one of the buyers got burned by a Sony CD.

Score: 0

By SorenMD

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 3:25 PM

Definitely NO supporting or buying Sony or BMG products ever again.

Sorry Sony but you severely betrayed the trust of your loyal consumers.

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 2:56 PM

what about the eula are they going to change that as well? because yes they are admitting they messed up...sort of but when this gets fixed do they still expect people to agree to their asinine terms?

Score: 0

By thenay

edited Nov 15, 2005 - 1:37 PM

I've warned all my friends not to buy Sony/BMG CD's/DVD's ever again, who knows what they'll do down the road. *downloading is much safer* LOL... Sorry Sony but as a consumer I don't trust ya anymore.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 2:22 PM

Good.

Too little, too late, but at least they're offering compensation.

I'm still going to avoid them though. No more Sony plz.

Score: 0

By Orbitration

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:53 PM

No Sony for me.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Sony customer has left the building.

Score: 0

By kholdstare

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 2:00 PM

like they would care if they lost someone like you as a customer give me a break.

Score: 0

By maniakmx3

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 2:06 PM

every customer counts, He's not the only customer sony lost because of this ordeal, we're talking millions! Think, if sony profited just 8 dollars from every item they sold, and 1 million people that were going to go out and just buy 1 item a peice, and now they aren't going to, that's an 8,000,000 Loss. Pretty big deal I would say...

Score: 0

By zee7

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:48 PM

The lawsuits are what made them change their tune, nothing else. Like the old saying goes, "Money talks and bull$hit walks..."

Score: 0

By Altman

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:21 PM

Yeah I'm sure this is hurting sales of the artists albums. I was going to pick up one of the albums until I had heard of all this junk that sony put on it and now I guess I'll wait indefinitely. I'm sure there is many other people that won't buy these albums because of this.

Score: 0

By spiffyjeff

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 3:45 PM

Sure, it will hurt the sales of cds, but I doubt it will have much effect on the artists. When I asked a member on Roadside Attraction (comedy group) wheather they are independant or belong to RIAA, here's what he had to say:

"We're independent all the way. I've seen too many friends lose their a** on a major label."

Score: 0

By Jedite

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:08 PM

Well, this is too little too late. I already traded in my PSP for my XBOX 360, and will not be buying any Sony products in the near future. I just cant support a company that treats its customers like criminals.

That statement by their VP sums up their companies thoughts of the consumer. Basically we dont know any better, so lets just keep shoving junk up their @#@$.

Sorry im taking my bussiness else were.

Score: 0

By gsbrock

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:14 PM

I'm not trading in my PSP or PS2 or anything like that... but I'm not going to be purchasing any more games for them or accessories/etc...

Canceled my PS3 preorder too...

Xbox 360 FTW it looks like... for once M$ has done something right, hehe :)

Score: 0

By maniakmx3

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 12:49 PM

Sony....What will you think of next?

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

edited Nov 15, 2005 - 12:40 PM

Well...I am glad they are doing what needs to be done, though it took weeks of consumer complaints before they chose to take action. The CEO summed it up when he said that most consumers won't care because they don't know what a rootkit is. They didn't, but all this negative publicity enlightens the public quickly. Majority of PC users still don't know about this, but many have found out in the past week or so, and the numbers are climbing. I'm afraid Sony only chose to take action because they finally realized this, and now that MS detects the DRM as a threat, and Mcafee is announcing a change in marketing strategy in the wake of these events, Sony HAS to do something.

Still, I'm happy to see that they are putting forth good effort to correct their mistakes NOW, and it could be worse.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Nov 15, 2005 - 12:31 PM

"Sony BMG deeply regrets any inconvenience to our customers and remains committed to providing an enjoyable and safe music experience,"

Translation:

"Sony Corporate called me and told me we were losing sales."

Allrighty then!

Score: 0

By roj

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 1:37 PM

The sky *is* blue in my universe. Remember a little scenario I painted?

MORE pressure is needed. The EFF has an open letter to Sony. It shoul dbe an open letter regarding ALL DRM.

Score: 0

By GoodThings2Life

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 12:53 PM

Here's is, verbatim, the phone conversation between the two executives:

SonyCorp: *SMACK!* "NO! BAD MONKEY!"
SonyBMG: "I'm sorry, sir... it'll never happen again!"
SonyCorp: "Make sure that it doesn't, or next time you'll be working for NASA doing anti-gravity tests!"

Score: 0

By MTrush

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 12:08 PM

they forget who there boss really is.
allthought it probably wont hurt there console sales much.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 2:26 PM

I'm one user who made my decision after hearing the news about Sony's rootkit. I was stuck in between the PS3 and XBOX 360. Now I'm not, and I know I'm not the only one.

Score: 0

By krazy1

posted Nov 15, 2005 - 11:58 AM

Look at them scramble now..I think it is too late Sony.. you went too far this time...

Score: 0

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