The point if the matter is, its not going to even stop people who get promo copies -- obviously. The new Crystal Method was out almost 3 months before it hit stores -- and a promo version was even available before that.

This technology will not stop ANYONE who has the correct hardware to rip/encode the albums. And it only takes one person with ties into the MP3 scene (and trust me -- many, many of them exist) with this equipment and it completely defeats the purpose of the companies spending massive amounts of money putting this technology into the albums.

So basically it stops nothing except the average enduser who just wants to rip his MP3s from his LEGALLY PURCHASED CDs to stick on his multitude of MP3-enabled devices. Like I said before -- not the group you really want to be affecting.