the article says it well.

it's also why we have gift taxes (well, the legit reason there should be some gift taxes, not the hungry gov't side of the equation), in the US. i don't like income tax as a general rule - and excessive taxes are not a great love of mine either.

however, when gifts remain the property of the giver - then many illegal things can be done ... the laundering of mucho money or underground commerce for a couple of examples.

of course, the promo sending entity could contract with the persons to whom they send such promo cds and "protect" their precious promo cds that way. it shouldn't be beyond the law to make an exchange of that sort a contracted issue - a bit more than a sticker so to speak.

however, that kinda kills the whole idea of sending the promo piece out in the first place.

and ... isn't all promo a good thing?

who wouldn't be happy to see a product of theirs so valuable that it might bring more bucks on ebay than it's orginal sale?

even if they dropped or lost the act (artist, band, etc.), it's still good PR for the company - something a bit of intelligence could probably take as an opportunity and not a loss.

just a thought.

and those coaster and frisbee cds? what difference could they make?

This is indicative of the base problem I see in the industry.
1. We sell a product.
2. That product is a shinny disk.
3. Only with that shiny product can you experience our music.

When reality is I as a fan think:
1. I want a music experience.
2. What types of experiences are available to me.
3. I'll have that, thank-you. (And in 2008 I really don't need and more importantly WANT that shinny disk.)

You cannot do that with a standard audio file without getting "buy in" to support the destruction by copyright holders, as well as player and OS manufacturers. Even then, it would not take too long for a moderately bright person to hack the file and render the "destruction" mechanism obsolete. This is true for any DRM mechanism.