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Spoofing P2P Networks as Marketing Plot

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the better-than-lawsuits dept.

prostoalex writes "Salon's technology section talks about major music labels spoofing the peer-to-peer networks. The users of AudioGalaxy, Gnutella or KaZaa have probably seen a surge of fake MP3 files when conducting a search on a popular title. The MP3 looks legit, but contains a 20 second clip played over and over. Such promotional tracks were especially popular with newest releases, such as Eminem and No Doubt, as pointed out in the article. Who posted the fake tracks to the p2p networks? Could it be, as Salon suggests, a suburban mom, who does not agree with controversial lyrics, or would it be the label, trying to prevent piracy and promote the new album at the same time?"

2 of 440 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Searching... by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't know. I tend to find junk, ads, whatnot on multiple sources. I think people are just lazy, and don't delete the junk.

    I know I do, as quickly as I find it, but sometimes I'm downloading something through the night, and may miss a file for 10 hours or so.

    So the multi-source thing doesn't work that well.

  2. Re:Movies, too? by groke · · Score: 5, Informative

    actually, the reason for these file sizes is that they're meant to be burnt as VCD -- video CD -- (or sometimes SVCD (the S is for super)).. said movie is most likely a VCD-compliant (happens to fit the bitrate and resolution requirements) MPEG-1. (S)VCDs are in mode II, which allows for about 740 meg on a 74-minute CD, and 800 meg on an 80 minute one. This is all spec-happy, and just about any recent burning software will be happy to burn said mpegs to VCD (I know Roxio EasyCD creator does (starting with version 5) and Nero, of course). The added space comes from less error-correction in the data tracks, so it's slightly less robust.. but it allows for more data to be burned.

    as a side note: almost all regular DVD players (you know, the ones for your TV) will play VCDs, some will play SVCDs (which are VCDs but with MPEG2 instead of MPEG1, and a bit more advanced menus possible). Some will play them off of CDRs, some not so much. visit http://www.vcdhelp.com for more information on players and how to make VCDs.

    And for the record, centropy tends to release pretty damn fine quality screeners. It's true that many suck, and they do make me want to wait for theater (or just until the DVD comes out, and then get a DVD rip :) ), and I won't discount the possibility that the studios play games with bad released from time to time.

    That is all, thank you for your time.