Crack the Pepsi iTunes Promo Code

An anonymous reader writes "Someone posted a technique to find a winner in the iTunes Pepsi promo giveaway." Next step: a Pepsi/iTMS winning number generator!

It's already done...

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone already wrote the geneator [sourceforge.net].

On Apple's behalf...

[NewWaveNet]

Oops, there went that debt free memo [slashdot.org]! ;)

And Apple just got back in the black

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome back to the world of debt.

Oh, come on!

[American AC in Paris]

The big secret: "tip the bottle and see if you can see 'again' under the cap." Sheer genius.

No, really--this would never have occurred to me.

I mean, really--the tipping of the bottle I could probably get to, but then to look through the clear plastic--inspired, my friend, inspired. And differentiating between 'again' and a random string of numbers? This guy has to be into hardcore pattern recognition. NSA, are you seeing this?

Yeah.

There exist elegant solutions to truly vexing problems that, once discovered, are striking in their simplicity. There also exist people who try to pass off the painfully obvious as an elegant solution to a truly vexing problem.

A free iTunes code to the person who can guess which category this falls into...

Boredom

[Anonymous Coward]

yay ... now I can avoid drinking an awful beverage while listening to awful music.

Slashdotted Already!

[gambit3]

Darn!

Now I'll have to play fairly and by the rules!

That just ain't fair!

Secret Agent Crack

[qw(name)]

As long as the "crack" can be placed in a secret decoder ring I'll be happy.

And the winner is...

[Channard]

The American Dental Association, for the sudden increase in work coming their way. A Mr Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. will be presented with the award - a special enamel yellow I-Pod - at the next 'Fillings Across America' convention.

Awesome!

[furiousgeorge]

Cool - a guaranteed way to pick a winner!

Now i'm off to buy many $1.20 bottles of sugar water so I get get a free $0.99 song!!!! I can't lose!

oh wait............

Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large numbers.

Usually, I think crackers are scum, but...

[Trillan]

If this is about the "crack" I read yesterday (article is completely /.ed to hell) of tipping the bottle to see what's under the cap, all I can say is hoorah! for creative thinking.

When you set up something this stupid, you deserve to be caught with your pants down.

All I wanted was an iTune

[Anonymous Coward]

...Just one iTune, and Pepsi wouldn't give it to me!

Hard to imagine...

[NeoTheOne]

Wouldnt hardcore geeks drink so much caffine (ie pepsi) that they wouldnt need the generator?

wtf?

[Shakrai]

That's pretty amusing but did the editors actually read this story before posting it? "Next step: a Pepsi/iTMS winning number generator!" WTF? Stuff that matters indeed.

Of course before I criticize them too much don't think I'm not going to try this the next time I go to the store. I don't drink soda (evil substance) but I can resell it to friends that don't use iTMS for the purchase price and pocket the songs ;)

1) Buy evil sugar water that's bad for you with winning code.
2) Resell said sugar water to friends who don't use iTMS.
3) Download songs legally while simultaneously screwing Pepsi and RIAA.
4) ???
5) Profit!

(I'm not trolling for karma. Feel free to mod this funny to avoid giving me any overrated if you disagree).

Re:Oh, come on!

[happyfrogcow]

A free iTunes code to the person who can guess which category this falls into...

[holy grail]
Category 1... no, 2! Aaarrrrrrrgghhhhhh
[/holy grail]

Re:Wow, mods are retarded.

[Anonymous Coward]

I suspect not, but I'm sure it could produce music of the same quality as most of the stuff produced today.

Re:Oh, come on!

[ForestGrump]

Yea, yet another reason to get a job working for the school cafetria...
so you can sit in the back tipping bottles while getting paid for it.

-grump

Mirror

[Alcimedes]

Since it's already slashdotted i'll paraphrase.

Tip the damn bottle.

If it constains the word "song" you won.

Buy that bottle.

The end.

Re:Priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

No, people who lack the capacity to detect sarcasm ad absurdium is a truly vexing problem. What part of that post made you think the guy was actually singing the praises of an individual he considers an intellectual giant?

KeyGen Released!!

[pantycrickets]

ORiON PROUDLY PRESENTS
iTunes Sweepstakes (c) Apple
SUPPLIER ...: Team ORiON
CRACKER ....: Team ORiON
PACKAGER ...: Team ORiON
RELEASED ...: 02.18.04
TYPE .......: Keygen
DISKS ......: XX/01
/sarcasm

Re:Oh come on! The WHOLE pop machine?

[netringer]

Oowwwww!! I have such a pain!

I tired this in our break room but I had to tip the entire Pepsi machine over to see which bottle I should buy! I hope the boss didn't see me.

Is that why they have that picture of the guy being crushed by the pop machine?
Is it to keep you from checking for iTunes winner bottles?

Re:Oh, come on!

[ttldkns]

You mod this as funny but its _actually_ the "secret"

*sigh*

Re:Wow, mods are retarded.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, using the Million monkeys theory of productions.

Its a joke boy, don't ya get it? Yer built too low. The fast ones go right over your head!

I've come up with the perfect iTunes DRM crack

[elflet]

...but unfortunately this bottle cap is too small to hold it. - Fermat

This is just a port...

[boinger]

...of the same crack that me and me l337 hacker bros worked out back in the BBS days to crack a very similar Mountain Dew promotion.

Good thing we released it GPL. Now those Apache commies [slashdot.org] can't use it, either!

Free Tibet!

Re:Oh, come on!

[John Harrison]

Good thing they don't have Crystal Pepsi anymore or this would be even easier!

As far as the idea of a generator, I hope that Apple was smart enough to use strong crypto in their generator, such that you would have to know the key to come up with a winning entry.

I don't see how subverting this promotion is good for anyone in the long term. Do you want more promotions like this in the future? Do you want the store to last? I guess the temptation of a free 99 cent song is too much for some.

Re:On Apple's behalf...

[ryanw]

Well, you still have to "open" the bottle to win. Pepsi/Apple is still ahead on this one.

Re:Oh, come on!

[netringer]

Hey, Steve... Is this what it has come to? You sell sugar water to children for a living now?

I never thought of that.
Do ya think this Pepsi/iTunes promo could be Scully's revenge! *gasp*

Re:Oh, come on!

[t1nman33]

Pepsi and Apple Computer would like to remind you that attempting to circumvent our patented "CapTron" technology is a violation of the DMCA, and will be prosecuted as such.

Article Text

[OECD]

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Unable to select database

Re:Before Long

[happyfrogcow]

But then ebay will yank the auctions, because the numbers do not belong to you, they belong to Pepsi.

hear that, all your numbers are belong to Pepsi. don't try any funny stuff, like making up your own numbers, or "adding" or "dividing". They'll get you... get you, I say!

Re:wtf?

[discogravy]

That's pretty amusing but did the editors actually

read this story before posting it?

you're new, right?

Re:itunes under wine?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's too hard to print the entire winning number on the bottom of a cork.

Re:Oh, come on!

[AvitarX]

Wow,

I was thinking it is a good thing they don't have Crystal Pepsi because it is so awfully disgusting.

to each their own I guess.

Re:a crack? hmm.

[kfg]

It seems more like social engineering.

If your only friend is a bottle of Pepsi.

KFG

Re:Oh, come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is as 1337 as Apple users get.

Apple - so 2004 won't be like 1337.

Warning: Joke

[elvum]

I think someone should start a business selling CDs full of random numbers.

Re:Wow, mods are retarded.

[yerfatma]

"You got a hole in your glove: I keep pitching 'em and you keep missing 'em."

Re:a crack? hmm.

[Cloud 9]

If your only friend is a bottle of Pepsi

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Re:Warning: Joke

[SirTwitchALot]

I know it's a joke, but I'll bite anyway:

They already do [t-online.de]

Re:Already over the 200 limit.

[prockcore]

I drink Pepsi like water, and friends give me their caps at school, so I'm already over the 200 cap limit. Really.

Maybe Pepsi should be giving away a free diabetes exam instead.

Re:Secret Agent Crack

[MikeXpop]

free iTunes code:

8UYM0R30V4L71N3

(don't mod this offtopic if you don't get the joke. read the code slowly)

Exciting times we live in...

[general_re]

I mean, really--the tipping of the bottle I could probably get to, but then to look through the clear plastic--inspired, my friend, inspired.

The Four-Color Map theorem.
Kepler's Sphere-Packing problem.
Fermat's Last Theorem.
And now this.

Brilliant.

Six Ticks on the Cap = Winner!

[Cordath]

I remember a long time ago, when I was in junior high, Coca-Cola had an under-the-cap contest going. The twist was that every bottle had tick-code on the cap. If there were 6 vertical lines, you were guaranteed to at least win a free soda. Needless to say, the employees at the gas-station down the road from my school (right in front of the bus stop) got very sick of junior-high kids going through every last bottle in the cooler looking for a six-tick bottle that had been miraculously missed by the 200 other kids that had already been through the place.

thank you captain obvious

[happyslinky]

for the next front page writeup at slashdot we have:
"WATER H4X0R3D... found to be wet" and
"GRASS P0WN3D.. GREEN ENSUES"

Re:Warning: Joke

[Anonymous Coward]

I think someone should start a business selling CDs full of random numbers.

I've got your company's tagline:
"1 in 2^(# of bits on a CD) chance of getting the software you wanted!"

Re:Warning: Joke

[elvum]

At last we can finally put to rest the national stereotype of the Germans as humourless.

I beg to differ...

[IshanCaspian]

Not if you just take the cap off....

Didn't work

[rixstep]

This didn't work for me.

I took the Pepsi bottle cap, inserted it into my PC CD drive, and could read nothing.

But I forgot to hold down Shift - that may be why.

I just wish people would document these hacks properly before publishing them. I'm pretty computer-savvy, so I don't think it was a mistake on my part.

Famous Steve Jobs quote to Pepsi guy

[bonch]

"Would you rather sell sugar water to kids for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?"

Steve Jobs to that guy from Pepsi. It's on folklore.org somewhere. The Bouncing Pepsis story, I believe.

Re:Secret Agent Crack

[JM Apocalypse]

I don't know why, but I was just at the store and had this incredibly strange urge for some sort of chocolate drink.

Re:Awesome!

[l-ascorbic]

And if you think that drinking any cola is only slightly preferable to sucking the sweat from Steve Ballmer's jock strap, then you'be just wasted 21c on sink corrosive.

The best part of the article

[emkman]

The best part of this amusing if lame article, is without a doubt the Mountain Dew eBay link [ebay.com].

Fatal flaw

[Stonent1]

You actually have to buy the pepsi! It costs $1.09-$1.29. Even worse if you accidentally drink the pepsi!

new way to steal music...

[aceh0]

just take the winning bottle caps. the cool thing is when the RIAA comes a knocking at your door you could feasibly have hundreds of bottle caps to throw at their minions.

Re:This is just a port...

[gwernol]

Free Tibet!

Free Tibet? Now that's a competition! None of this buy crappy Pepsi, win crappy Britney tune. Apparently this dude is giving away whole countries.

Where do I enter?

Re:Oh, come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

isn't that CrapTon?

I love the first drawing

[Anonymous Coward]

with the arrow saying "Look." Damn, without that arrow, I'd have looked at the wrong end of the bottle.

Mountain Dew Givaway

[returnoftheyeti]

I got hooked on Dew back in 99 or so when you could win a free pop (soda) in the cap. I worked in a gas station and had nothing to do but go through the stock room and tilt the bottles to look under the cap and see WINNER. Then I would just open the bottle, drink and turn in the cap when I was done. I had like 5 cases that were exclusivly winners that never made it on to the regular sales floor.

Right now...

[AsmordeanX]

359 7-11 employees are going through their Pepsi stock and taking out all the winners.

Profit

[blackmonday]

Step 1: Enter Supermarket
Step 2: Go to Soda Aisle
Step 3: Tip Pepsi, grab winners
Step 4: Unscrew Caps and stick in pocket
Step 5: Log on to ebay.com
Step 6: ??????
Step 7: Profit!

Looking at the diagram...

[X86Daddy]

... (Here [mobiletracker.net]) I am concerned that either Pepsi's formula has become much more syruppy, or someone is screwing around with the gravity near MacMerc's headquarters.

if you don't get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

either watch A Christmas Story (recommended) or learn to read leetspeak (not recommended).

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT UP +5 Fucking Idiot...

Re:Oh, come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

Does the DMCA know about this?

I love the last statement

[peter_gzowski]

You might find it easiest to practice while not in the store. Just buy a few and take them home. Get the knack for the angle, and it isn't that hard to pull off without looking like a huge tool.

Yeah, for that you need a website about it...

yesterdays news..

[basslineshift]

We used to do that back in Jr. High when you used to get free Mtn Dews from the under bottlecaps. We'd Tilt, Look, pick a winner and then open it and bring the cap up to the register.. viola.. free soda.

: ]

I CAN'T BELIEVE...

[bfg9000]

...that this hard-hitting piece of "journalism" made Slashdot's *front page*. I mean, I understand -- slow news day and all, and, well, Slashdot's front page was never a real "exclusive club" in the first place.... "Try to read the cap and see if you've won before you buy the Pepsi." That's it. THAT made the front page. He even put pictures for the, shall we say, "less intellectually fortunate" among the Mac faithful. What's next, "shake your Christmas present and maybe you can tell what's inside?" How about "Check your fruit for bruises BEFORE you buy it to avoid getting bruised fruit!"? GENIUS, I tell you, SHEER GENIUS. Yes, Bobby, "Genius" as in "Genius Bar". I bet Apple's already looking for this Einstein's number as we speak. But they'll have to beat NASA to him! He's like the guy off Phenomenon, I wonder if he can learn Spanish in a half hour. Frickin' Brilliant. I hope he uses his powers for Good, not Evil. Hey, I'm not kidding. He managed to make Slashdot's FRONT PAGE. The FreeBSD guys could cure cancer with their ass and they wouldn't make the front page.

Why do the Editors even *bother* with apple.slashdot.org when something this fundamentally NON-earth-shakingly important (ie remember that credo "Stuff that Matters"?) makes the front page? SLASHDOT is now apple.slashdot.org. Get it? Slashdot = Apple. Everything NON-Apple seems secondary. Linux stories are tolerated. Books are ignored. YRO is buried. Games are irrelevant.

You know, I used to think the guys who say "the Slashdot Editors are on Apple's payroll" and that "Apple is astroturfing here" were crazy. Now, I'm starting to believe it. Or has the definition of "stuff that matters" changed fundamentally since Apple is involved?

Either the editors are slipping or they have an agenda. Take your pick. I like cheating as much as the next guy, but this doesn't deserve front page coverage. I guess that's why I'm not an editor. I'd be fair, I speak in full sentences, and my spelling is adequate. Hell, right there my chances are shot.

just stupid

[SteveXE]

if people need a website to figure this out we have problems, me and my friends were doing this with free cokes when we were 12 without any help. Whoever made that has too much time on their hands and more so then any other geek they need to GO OUTSIDE!

Vagabonds and Scoundrels

[Anonymous Coward]

Every time you download a high-quality ogg or mp3 for free from p2p or better sources, you save $0.99 off an ITMS purchase.

Every time your convenience-store friend lets you fill up your personal cup with soda at no charge, you save $0.79 on a Pepsi purchase.

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of law school students.

And we did it...just like that
When we want something and
We don't wanna pay for it
We walk right
Through the door
We walk right through the door

Re:Famous Steve Jobs quote to Pepsi guy

[elmegil]

And now Steve jobs is....selling sugar water to teenagers. Yaaaaahoooooooo

I'm not a gravitational expert but..

[jamonterrell]

If holding the bottle at 25 degrees is so important, and they're showing the angle verses the line of horizon, shouldn't the soda in the bottle be parallel to the line of horizon? I mean, I'm not by any means as mathematically and engineering-ly inclined to come up with such a "brilliant" way of peaking into soda bottles in convenience stores to get free music, but I think I could have at least figured that part out.

Re:On Apple's behalf...

[Mc_Anthony]

Yes, but what ever you do, don't drink the soda! they have laces the sweet juice with a mind altering drug that makes you into a Mac fanatic.

Re:Oh, come on!

[Bingo Foo]

And from what I understand, Lisa [wikipedia.org] isn't allowed on the internet either.

Re:On Apple's behalf...

[lavaface]

Let's be realistic. You are not scamming the contest by looking under the cap (without opening the bottle.) I wonder what percentage of bottles made are winners. 1 in 5? Who knows. When you consider that many people don't look at the cap or won't bother to claim (Pepsi expects only 1/3 to make claims) the few who know how to "cheat" will make nary a dent in the outcome.

Pepsi's ad budget is ~$250 million a year.

Also, consider they war with Coca-Cola over "turf" in school districts across the country. Money for nothing for cash-strapped schools.

Also remember we're talking about flavored sugar water. Who's scamming whom?

Re:On Apple's behalf...

[atrader42]

"How many times have you listened to 99% of those 20, 40, even 100gb+ songs on your hard drive?"

Well, since that 100 gb song is 71 days long, I don't get too many opportunities to listen to the whole thing. I do, however, enjoy sections of it.

Re:Warning: Joke

[ashot]

even better [noentropy.net].

Re:On Apple's behalf...

[andcal]

Also remember we're talking about flavored sugar water. Who's scamming whom?

Yeah, but it also contains caffeine, the melange of the real world. No, I am not trying to claim that there is only one source of caffeine in the world. The reason compare it to the Spice of Arrakis is because, like how melange allows the guild pilots of Dune to fold space and travel between the stars, caffeine makes certain, critical work in the real world possible, which would otherwise not be done. Imagine all the code that would have never been written, were it not for caffeine!