Music fans hack Pepsi, iTunes promotion

Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO: Music fans have found a decidedly low-tech way to hack a promotion sponsored by soft drink company PepsiCo Inc. in order to garner a high-tech treat: a download of a song from Apple Computer Inc.'s online music store.

By tipping a specially marked Pepsi bottle and peering under the cap, it is possible to see whether the cap says "Try Again" or bears a winning 10-digit redemption code, according to MacMerc.com (http://www.macmerc.com), a Web site for Mac developers and users, which published a detailed description, complete with schematics, on Wednesday.

The trick of tipping a bottle to peer at the cap's underside to see if the cap is a winner in an ongoing promotion is hardly new, but the association with Apple in this case has caused a buzz on Mac-related and other Web sites the past few days.

"I remember doing this for other promos, but this is the first that really has a draw," wrote MacMerc Webmaster Jon Gales in an instant message. "That's because it's instant -- pop the cap and download a song. No waiting around to collect five caps and send away for a hat that comes two months later."

Roughly 18 hours after Gales posted the trick on the Web site he runs with three others, it popped up on the popular tech site Slashdot (http://slashdot.org). Soon after that, the MacMerc site crashed.

"Our host said at the time of the crash we were getting 30 requests a second," Gales wrote.

The low-tech hacking tip reached No. 1 on both Blogdex.com and Popdex.com, which track links from Weblogs.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, declined to comment.

"We always put redemption limits in place for promotions like this, but we've found that most consumers play by the rules," said Dave DeCecco, a Pepsi spokesman.

Apple and PepsiCo launched the marketing campaign and promotion to give away 100 million free songs -- Apple's biggest yet for its music store -- at this year's Super Bowl. One in three Pepsi bottles is a winner.

Lucky music fans enter the redemption code at Apple's online music store and then download a song into Apple's iTunes digital jukebox software.

By paying a bit more than a dollar for a 20-ounce soft drink, consumers stand to download one song, which would ordinarily cost them 99 cents.

iTunes, which only works with Apple's popular iPod player, runs on both Apple and Windows computers.

© Reuters