• Taiwan gears up for DVD+RW
  Ricoh’s DVD+RW technology has been picked up by Taiwan’s Lite-On IT, Behavior Tech Computer (BTC), Acer and AOpen, and related products will be released as soon as the first quarter of 2002...
• File-swapping case may break new ground
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has represented hackers, cryptographers and computer scientists in its push for digital rights, agreed to defend MusicCity against copyright infringement charges by movie studios and record labels. It's helping build a high-powered team of lawyers to show that this case is different than Napster...
• Napster rivals winning popularity contest
  Analysis company Webnoize has said that the number of digital music files downloaded using Kazaa, MusicCity and Grokster jumped 20 percent, increasing to 1.81 billion in October from 1.51 billion files in September...
• Hitachi develops versatile DVD drive
  The electronics maker announced on Monday that it has developed a drive that can read and write several formats for recordable and rewritable DVD discs, as well as for recordable and rewritable CDs...
• Sony Introduces First 20X Ultra Slim Portable CD-RW and DVD-ROM Combo Drives
  Sony has expanded its desktop storage portfolio with the introduction of two stylish ultra-slim portable CD-RW and DVD-ROM Combo drives. The new combo drives can connect easily, using USB 2.0, to a notebook, PC or Macintosh computer for high performance CD-R/RW recording and CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM playback...

YaPS is short for Yet another Protection Scanner and is able to detect SecuROM, SecuROM *new*, SafeDisc, SafeDisc 2, CD-Cops, CodeLok/CopyLok, LaserLock, DiscGuard, Bitpool, ProtectCD, Oversized & Dummy files protected CDs.

In this article they introduce a new extension to the BURN-Proof technology called: Shock-BP

This new technology prevents making coasters by detecting & stopping the recording when there is too much vibration. This is especially handy for external CD-Writers!

• Linux wins access to next-generation CDs
  After months of closed-door negotiations, open source developers have gained royalty-free access to one of the most significant new storage formats of the future: Mount Rainier...
• Movie industry dealt DVD-cracking blow
  A California court has dealt a potentially serious setback to the movie industry's attempt to rid the online world of software that can help break through copy protections on DVDs...
• Victory for DVD Code Cracking
  A California State Appeals Court ruled on Thursday that computer code used to "descramble" DVDs, like DeCSS, is "pure speech," and citing the First Amendment, the court reversed a trial court's order to block the code from appearing on the Web...
• Universal May Prevent PCs from Playing CDs
  In an effort to protect its copyright material for digital distribution, Universal Music Group is preparing to incorporate technology that may keep consumers from playing their legally bought CDs over their PCs at work or at home as soon as next month...
• Freecom & Liquid Audio Team-Up To Provide a Digital Music Solution To CD-RW Users
  Freecom has partnered with Liquid Audio to provide CD-RW users an easy way to access secure digital music and burn their own music CDs...
• Apple releases iDVD 2 for Mac OS X
  Apple has announced the release of iDVD 2, the latest major upgrade to its consumer-oriented DVD creation tool. The software works in conjunction with Power Mac G4s equipped with "SuperDrives:" Pioneer-built DVD-R/CD-RW combination drives...
• Panasonic DVDBurner & GEAR Bring DVD-R/RAM Recording to Multiple Platforms
  Panasonic & GEAR announced that GEAR's highly acclaimed DVD recording products are compatible with Panasonic's 4.7GB DVD-RAM/R drive, the DVDBurner. Combined, the software and dual-technology drive bring rewritable and write-once DVD recording to the industry's broadest range of platforms like Windows 95, 98, Me, XP, NT 4.0, 2000, Linux & UNIX...
• Hewlett Launches $1,000 Home Digital Music Player
  Computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. took aim at consumers' living rooms with the launch on Wednesday of an Internet-ready home digital music center that it hopes will build a market where competitors have failed to make it big...