Attach a CD ROM to the empeg, and have the empeg rip the judge's original CD and play it off the hard drive

Never happen. Aside from the fact that there is absolutely no possibility of the Judge hanging around for 30-40 minutes while the music is prepared, there is no reasonable way for a non-technically inclined judge (they're music judges, not computer geeks) to ascertain that the music being played on the empeg is in fact the same music that was just installed. Remember that the majority of judges will have never even heard of an empeg, much less seen one, operated one, or understood how the hierarchical playlist structure works.

I still maintain the only possible way for digital music to be allowed under any semblance of the rules as they are currently written, is for the empeg to have the ability to display a tamper-proof idenfitication of the currently playing file. Hey -- you could make it one of the visuals! Then all we have to do is (a) get empeg to write the software, and (b) get IASCA to understand and accept it.

Don't hold your breath.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"