BMG still have me amazed.
I did falter when purchasing a USB drive.
I needed something to pop vital files on as a fail-safe to my procrastination to "BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP".
After negotiating with the purse powers I found myself before a number of options - the only brand offering compression: Sony.
Ironically, I did scan the specs for any mention of carry on and scan my limbic system for the correct memory of "Rootkit revealer".

Probably lulled by the Da-Vinci Code keyring [nauseating I know] - that one reads later shouldn't be attached to the drive directly [one kinda knew] I parted with a pineapple and a redback for 1GB retractable USB [Virtual Expander]: handy, as half that size were only a tad cheaper.

Now one may simply use the "Virtual Expander" as a USB or allow an app' to be installed and run at startup [gotcha! - er.. (recommended)].
Of course requiring a reboot after setting to run at startup - in case one only compresses irregularly to said drive and is fussy about background CPU hogging.

Continuing the Da Vinci theme, I did allow myself to feel "incredulous", just as Sophie Neveau does when realising reality 'aint what we expect.
Theoretically, as the keyring is an immediate link to the media upon offending medium, I must immediately mediate my meritocratic attitude to one of mediocrity.

Still continuing the theme, I won't go as far as Silas and the belt cilice. Maybe the "coarse hair" type. A week wearing nannas best knitted tea cosy for undies should set things right.

Incredulous, just incredulous...

Still blaming Sony BMG for something one of their subcontractors built?

At least you've at last stopped calling them "Sony" as you did misleadingly and repeatedly on the SMH website.

But even though you've got the name right, you still can't seem to grasp the difference between Sony BMG (the music company) and Sony (the maker of TVs, etc.) and SCE (the maker of the PS2).

I know its confusing, but this is supposed to be the Bleeding Edge, where we're hip to all that automagic technogelly.

I feel bad doing it, but I also need to point out that your "blackban" is totally ineffective. So you don't buy a "Sony" CD player. You still pay royalties to Sony whichever brand of CD player you buy.

So you don't buy a "Sony BMG" CD. You still pay royalties to Sony whenever you buy a CD, and you still pay royalties to Sony BMG should the artist you buy sing a song from their catalog.

And even if you manage to avoid all that, you'd still have to be careful! DADC, Sony's "arm's length" global CD/DVD manufacturer, who probably pressed a good proportion of whatever shiny silver disks you purchased last year, whatever brand was on the label.

So, buy carefully, Bleeding Edge.

Or, in an easier and far more logical alternative, simply admit that yours was a kneejerk overreaction to a storm in a teacup.

Good companies occasionally make bad mistakes, in this case trusting a software company to make good software that they said they could make.

Industries occasionally head down the wrong path, in this case the whole music industry choosing to protect their artist's IP (which they have every right to do) with badly-thought-through on-disc software.

I bought a SonyEricsson mobile recently. It's a candybar shape (I hate those damn clamshells!) has a better OS than my recent Nokia (and I never thought I'd say that!) and is, quite simply, the best phone I've ever owned.

Pity you'll never get to own one (you'd love it, trust me) while your one-man nutso "blackban" is in force.

Still finding it hard to tell who wrote what, Johnno? Stephen wrote this piece, not me.

Still supporting companies that treat the consumer with contempt, with bogus arguments? Sony is such a great company, it's followed up the rootkit shambles with a tour de force that resulted in the recall of vast armadas of laptops, because Sony-manufactured batteries were bursting into flames. Another storm in a teacup, I suppose. Another case of a good company that just got unlucky again.

Too bad laptop manufacturers didn't take my advice and ban Sony too!

Yeah.

CW classic: attack the man, not the argument. Invent straw men and batter them down. I bet it makes you feel great.

Look, mate, it was "Bleeding Edge" at SMH promoting a farcical "black ban", and it's "Bleeding Edge" here celebrating the "one year anniversary" of said black ban. Who cares who wrote it; you and your mate are singing the same silly tune.

How many people lost data due to the "rootkit"? How many people's computers were "rooted" (that's what a rootkit is for, right?). Yep. Zero and zero. Huge shambles.

As for the battery recall, explain to me what Sony did wrong in that case? THEY ISSUED A RECALL. Exactly what a responsible company would do.

Was anyone killed by batteries bursting into flame? Was anyone injured? No, and no. How many fires were there again? And how many batteries were recalled? Something less than 10 and something more than several million, I believe.

What was your point again? Oh, that's right, it was yet another spray in a random direction not even pointed towards the point of mine you're supposedly demolishing.

Why bother seeking negative attention, Johnno, when you're simply an anonymous twit? No one has to demolish your arguments. They fall over from sheer lack of substance.

If you can't appreciate the extremely grave issues raised by the rootkit scandal, and can't extrapolate from a handful of laptops bursting into flames to potentially millions doing the same thing (why, for God's sake, do you think the manufacturers recalled them?) you're not really worth engaging in discourse. I don't believe in censoring even twits, but really, you're just wasting your time. Why not just piss off?

cw wrote: "... can't extrapolate from a handful of laptops bursting into flames to potentially millions doing the same thing (why, for God's sake, do you think the manufacturers recalled them?)"

Yeah, mate, you're making my point for me. Why did "evil" Sony do the right thing in record time, eh? Perhaps, and this is a long shot, because they're not evil?

You don't really understand blogs, do you? Controversy = traffic. Flames = fans. You take it all far too personally, and the only thing that suffers is your traffic. I've never called you a clueless dickhead (no matter how warranted) but you're pretty free with the "twits" and the "piss off".

I will "piss off" and leave you to your Bleeding Edge echo chamber (another day, another lost reader) but not before I link to some ACTUAL JOURNALISM about the Sony BMG "rootkit":

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16812&ch=biztech

Read and learn, cw, read and learn.

Back then we had Fred Nerk and Stuart, now we have Johhno praising Sony for being Malware/Spyware/Rootkit suppliers.

Johhno, you still cannot comprehend the fact that I wrote the article as a 12 month anniversary of MY OPINION of Sony to let them know what I believe about personal computers and that is it is MY PC not Sony's nor any other company, so keep your spyware/malware/virus/rootkit to yourselves you commercial pack of mungrels.

Be it an outsourced company who made the original software or not, Sony's gross incompetence in being able to 'Quality Assure' a product they sell is abhorrent and again backed up by the quality assurance of ~7 million laptop batteries now. And do not forget that Sony was ordered by the Japanese trade ministry for a please explain, that is far from proactive by Sony.

So Johhno I am FAR from a journalist, I am a full blown techie with propellers spinning on my head.

Yes that latest link you have posted has absolutely nothing new in it, just a 12 page summary of the events that happened then and since. I DON’T CARE, I was following the issue from first reported by CW and then followed F-Secure and Mark Russinovich research directly to check and ensure that Australians were not affected by this issue.

Corporations who think that they can do that with MY personal computer such as Sony will continue to be on my ‘Up yours company list’ and I have put your e-mail address down to an employee or paid spin-doctor for Sony. Now go away... You will not be missed.