This is part of the story about how easy it is to copy software from computers to your iPod without paying for your software. It is a shortened version. If you want to see the whole article head on over to Wired and read it.
No tags for this post.When Apple introduced the iPod, the company was aware that people might use it to rip off music from the Net or friends’ machines. Each new iPod, in fact, is emblazoned with a sticker that warns, “Don’t Steal Music.”
But it is unlikely that Apple imagined people would walk into computer stores, plug their iPod into display computers and use it to copy software off the hard drives.
This is exactly the scenario recently witnessed by Kevin Webb at a Dallas CompUSA store.
Webb, a computer consultant from Dallas, was browsing his local CompUSA when he saw a young man walk toward him listening to an iPod. Webb recognized the iPod’s distinctive ear buds.
The teenager stopped at a nearby display Macintosh, pulled the iPod from his pocket and plugged it into the machine with a FireWire cable. Intrigued, Webb peeped over the kid’s shoulder to see him copying Microsoft’s new Office for OS X suite, which retails for $500.
When the iPod is plugged into a Macintosh, its icon automatically pops up on the desktop. To copy software, all the kid had to do was drag and drop files onto the iPod’s icon. Office for MacOS X is about 200 MB; it copies to the iPod’s hard drive in less than a minute.
“Watching him, it dawned on me that this was something that was very easy to do,” Webb said. “In the Mac world it’s pretty easy to plug in and copy things. It’s a lot easier than stealing the box.”
Webb watched the teenager copy a couple of other applications. He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. “I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless,” Webb said.
Unsure whether the kid was a thief or an out-of-uniform employee, Webb watched as he left the store. “I thought there’s no point in getting any more involved in this imbroglio,” Webb said. “Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying.”
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