From the New York Times

The Epic Records Group, a unit of Sony Music, is approaching the sticky problem of prerelease music's being traded online with an even stickier solution.

Writers receiving review copies of two soon-to-be-released albums — Tori Amos's "Scarlet's Walk" and Pearl Jam's "Riot Act" — are finding the CD's already inside Sony Walkman players that have been glued shut. Headphones are also glued into the players, to prevent connecting the Walkman to a recording device.

By locking up the discs, Epic hopes to keep writers from converting the music to MP3's that can then be traded over the Net. But even a "glueman" player is unlikely to deter a diehard critic. That same writer removed the back of the player and removed the disc according to the NYT article.

One writer said "At the same time, if I want to give it a proper review, I'm going to listen to it how I want to listen to it — and in my stereo is where it sounds best," he said.

A Sony spokeswoman confirmed that the glued players were being used to combat piracy, but would not talk about their effectiveness or responses from writers.

Does this strike anyone else as to how badly these companies don't have a clue?
It also raises the question of is Sony going to charge the artist for the player as well? Most likely, they will be charged with the cost of the players, in addition to the cd (which they already pay for). No doubt it will be at full suggested retail price as well.