Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

A new copy protection technique for CDs could be a major boon for Microsoft in its attempts to replace the MP3 format with its own Windows Media Audio format. The technique works by placing two copies of an album on a CD; one for playing from a CD player, and another in Windows Media Audio format for copying to a listener’s hard drive. The WMA files would have built-in restrictions, however, including being unable to be copied from one computer to another.

Slashdot.org notes that an individual’s work at creating an Aqua theme for Netscape 6 has been shut down by Apple. Eric Yang intended to create the theme only so that Netscape 6 would match the rest of Mac OS X’s interface, and in the process actually found and fixed an interface bug for Apple. “I only hope that Apple would write cocoa UI for Mozilla, then I will not need this project,” writes Yang on his site.

Henry Knorr, of The San Francisco Gate, is the latest columnist to offer praise for Mac OS X 10.1. His column also gives a general overview of Mac OS X and the improvements that the update, which will be released tomorrow, offer.

Panic today released Audion 2.6, an update to its popular MP3 player. The new version adds a handful of features, including CD burning, a plugin that evens out audio to avoid sudden volume changes, an echo plugin, and improved freedb support. The software also contains optimization for Mac OS X 10.1, such as faster playlist window resizing and a dock menu. Audion 2.6 is shareware and available for US$19.95 as a player, or $32.95 as a player and MP3 encoder.

Hewlett-Packard today unveiled a new consumer laser printer priced at US$249, dubbed the HP LaserJet 1000. We could not confirm at press time whether or not this new printer is Macintosh-compatible — the site has yet to be updated — but it offers print speeds of 10 PPM (pages per minute) at an attractive price point. [Updated 09/29/01 04:37 ET — Representatives of Hewlett-Packard have told MacMinute that the new HP LaserJet 1000 is not Macintosh-compatible.