Sony Settles Rootkit Class Action (Part the First)

Image courtesy of

It appears the Sony rootkit fiasco may be approaching an end. Techdirt is reporting that the company has settled one of many class action lawsuits, offering three free albums' worth of MP3 downloads or $7.50 plus a single albums' worth of downloads. As a poster on Techdirt points out:

According to Sony, 2 albums' worth of music has an actual value of $7.50. That's $3.75 per album.

It appears the Sony rootkit fiasco may be approaching an end. Techdirt is reporting that the company has settled one of many class action lawsuits, offering three free albums’ worth of MP3 downloads or $7.50 plus a single albums’ worth of downloads. As a poster on Techdirt points out:

According to Sony, 2 albums’ worth of music has an actual value of $7.50. That’s $3.75 per album.

Bear this in mind when the RIAA quote higher figures. Also if they sold albums for under $4 maybe Sony wouldn’t need DRM.

The real question out of all of this is whether or not Sony will return to selling plain ol’ unencumbered CDs, or if their agreement to abandon the MediaMax and XCP means only that they will be migrating to another DRM system in the near future.

We suspect the latter, but remain hopefully optimistic while we continue to purchase our music from Russian download services.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.