It's like the old Napster all over again - all the music you want for free, as long as you're willing to get a little geeky. Web Blogs were a buzz this week about the resurgence of an old technique for "ripping" music on a PC from Napster's all-you-can-eat subscription music plan using Winamp.



It turns out it is possible to turn Napster's copy-protected downloads into unprotected files that can be burned freely to CDs. This type of antipiracy evasion has repeatedly dogged digital media services from RealNetworks to Apple Computer over the years.



Applied to subscription services offering unlimited access to downloads of more than 1 million songs, the idea may have new resonance, however. For now, Napster and other content providers are saying the "hack" isn't dangerous to their subscription model.