http://www.nme.com/news/nme/30181

>> MP3 eating computer virus threatens fans music collections

08.Aug.07 10:12am

A computer virus that targets MP3s has turned up online, according to computer industry experts.

The worm - called W32. Deletemusic - goes through an infected user's hard drive deleting all the MP3s it finds.

It also looks for any MP3s on any external drives and memory cards attached to the machine.

The memory card can then spread the worm to any other computer it is put into.

Ian Yarlott, Director Consumer Business EMEA at Trend Micro, gave tips on how to keep your machine clean.

He said: "It always pays to think before attaching an external memory card to your computer.

"Secondly, having all of your music on your hard drive and not backing it up is asking for trouble - try to back it up onto a DVD for safekeeping. Thirdly always make sure your anti-virus is up to date."

A scanning system for the virus can be found at http://housecall.trendmicro.com. <<

Devised by the major labels????

That was my first thought too. How funny! Another way to boost sales at the expense of the fans...make them purchase things more than once!

This sounds like a case for . . . Renny, the Conspiracy Buster

Maybe Apple is behind it (since iTunes sells music in m4p format and would not be vulnerable to attacks by this virus.)

How many legal downloads are mp3 files? (I know a couple sources of live recordings which distribute in .flac or .mp3, but do any of the iTunes/Rhapsody type of services distribute .mp3s?) I see no problem exploring conspiracy theories; quite often, things are not as clear cut as they seem.