Microsoft used pirate software creating its Media Player Tour

November 19, 2004

After all the effort Microsoft puts into promoting its Windows Media Player, Windows Media Audio Format and Digital Rights Management (DRM) anti-piracy technology, the last thing one would expect is for Microsoft to use pirate software to create the sounds used in the help tour of Windows Media Player itself.

Apparently Microsoft or at least one person involved in developing the sounds for the Media Player tour had used Sound Forge 4.5, which is a professional audio-editing software package by Sony (formerly Sonic Foundry). When this software saves recordings, it appends the software user ID, date and some other info in plain text to the sound file that can be read using a viewer even as simple as Notepad. However, in the wave files used in the Windows Media Player tour, there is 'Deepz0ne' a known code name of a member in a group involved in cracking music software several years ago. Both GristyMcFisty and atomic_zORRo both used our news submit to let us know about this news.

PC Welt, the German computer magazine, claims that Microsoft has shipped its popular Windows Media Player with sound files that are edited with an illegal copy of SoundForge, a commercially available Sony program for manipulating audio.

In one of the WAV files PC Welt discovered a reference to SoundForge 4.5 and a user called 'Deepz0ne', who happens to be one of the founders of an audio software cracking group called Radium.

It is unclear if Microsoft took the file off of a royalty-free sound effects library, outsourced its sound editing to someone with an illegal copy or used a warez version of SoundForge itself.

However, it wouldn't be first first such incident to cause embarrassment. Last year Microsoft acknowledged two Nazi symbols were inadvertently included in the "Bookshelf Symbol 7" font that shipped with Microsoft Office 2003. The company immediately offered tools to replace the offending characters.

In a heated discussion at Slashdot, some readers demanded "homeland security on the case ASAP". Other verdicts were somewhat milder: "Even Microsoft has no use for MS Sound Editor."

Some more info at PC Welt and Tom's hardware guide.

Interestingly, Microsoft has joined the Business Software Alliance (BSA) a while back, a company that is solely involved in fighting against software piracy in businesses across the globe by prosecuting infringers. It would be interesting to see what Microsoft would have to say if they were suddenly challenged about this issue.

It looks like who ever was involved in creating the sound effects either did not know that their sound editing software appended this info or assumed that no one would ever think of checking what info is embedded in the sound file. Then again, look at how long it took before anyone even spotted this accidental since the file appears to have been in Windows XP since the very first release of XP going by its modification date.

(Wave sound file from Windows Media Player Tour opened in Notepad)