What better way is there to protect your content then by a method that isn't even apparent? When an attacker sees that something is there to be cracked, they will often try for the sheer challenge. Steganography is the technique of hiding in plain sight. If someone can't even see that there is encryption to begin with, it's that much more difficult to even begin removing it.

     Many types of audio protection schemes will use the empty space on a CD to hold protection information. This space is normally reserved for error correction code. So a CD that utilizes this type of protection will fail much sooner than any regular CD due to less error correction being available. The method I use utilizes the LSB ( Least Significant Bit) of the audio itself. This leaves the full amount of error correction available, and results in virtually no degradation of the audio signal.

     Using Encryption to protect your artistic work has many benefits. You're able to prove that the work is yours, additionally you can use it to provide important contact information in case of a dispute over copyright. This encryption method will also alert you by it's presence if someone is attempting to make digital copies of your work. By analyzing their file, you can prove that the work was originally yours.

     I'm currently looking for audio projects to further test this method with in real world situations. If you are looking for an engineer and would like to try encrypting your tracks. Please contact me: Tim [at] theSoundDesign.com

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Hiding and Encrypting even something as simple as a text file inside an audio track makes any case for proving copyright much easier. While the date can be easily altered on a normal file, or deleted all together; a file with encrypted content is significantly harder to alter. As a bonus, the simple fact that you know the file is there, while no one else does only strengthens your claim to original ownership.

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