Pirates, Beware: This CD Stays Put

By Josh Tyrangiel

The slumping record industry's best hope? Glue. To combat online piracy, Epic Records has started shipping music critics personal cd players that are glued shut. Sealed inside the Walkmans, to prevent any unauthorized copying, are upcoming releases by Tori Amos, Pearl Jam AND audioslave (The remnants of Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden). "It's a low-tech response to a high-tech problem," says Epic spokeswoman Lisa Markowitz. "A walkman costs $50, and we could be saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by preventing this music from getting out." Critics are asked to return the cd player, and the first critics who were sent the PEARL JAM album--shockingly--all did so. after that, the players are recycled for other critics, "Like a lending library," says Markowitz. As for the high-tech method for sealing up the players: "We have two wonderful guys who sit with little masks on, gluing these things." --BY Josh Tyrangiel