GET THOSE NEW RELEASES
BEFORE THEY'RE RELEASED

In the wake of reports that Virgin had "accidentally" released the entire new Spice Girls album on Napster, the crack investigative team here at hitsdailydouble checked to see which, if any, of next week's big releases were available via the swappery. And, purely for "research" purposes, we also downloaded a few tracks.

Well, let's see… U2's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is there in its entirety. No surprise there. And Godsmack's "Awake" is available, despite a warning that comes on advance copies of the disc that reads, "This record has been marked with a specific identification code in order to trace any unauthorized use thereof, including usage on the Internet and other digital replications." The discs also have the recipient's name printed on the disc. (See picture.) Some people must not be scared of that.

Jay-Z's album, expected to debut at #1, is available both on eBay for $5 or on Napster for free. "Stankonia" from Outkast, which may well contend for the top slot, is up on Napster as well.

We were able to track down the majority of the Spice Girls' "Forever," which streets Nov. 7 and more than we wanted from Backstreet Boys' "Black And Blue," coming Nov. 21. There was also some of the new Fatboy Slim, also due Nov. 7. We were having so much fun that we even checked to see how much of the upcoming Marilyn Manson record, "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)," we could dig up. Surprise! It's all there, even though that album doesn't come out until Nov. 14.

Which certainly begs the question, where is all this stuff coming from? Damned if we know—but Trakin swears he had nothing to do with the Godsmack leak.