http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Web site details low-tech hack of iTunes promotion

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Music fans have found a decidedly low-tech way to hack a promotion sponsored by soft drink company PepsiCo Inc. to garner a high-tech treat: a download of a single song from Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL) online music store.

By tipping a specially marked Pepsi bottle about 25 degrees 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, a Web site for Mac developers and users, which published a detail description, complete with schematics, on Wednesday.

A representative for MacMerc (http://www.macmerc.com) could not immediately be reached for comment. Apple declined to comment.

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 Web sites the past few days.



"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 Inc. (PEP) launched the marketing campaign and promotion to give away 100 million free songs at the Super Bowl in January, Apple's biggest yet for its music store. 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.

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