There has been such an uproar about this that Sony have announced they are scrapping the idea and have produced a removal tool, and in their next big update Microsoft are including a patch to remove the rootkit which the Sony code installs. To remove the rootkit before then leaves Windows crippled and unusable (not even bootable!)
The main problem here is the rootkit (this allows total remote control of everything on your PC and isn't detected by anti-virus software) and there is at least one known virus writer who has already written malware to take advantage of this.
It is generally agreed in the industry that Sony have been extremely foolish and short-sighted in producing the CD code as there are rumours everywhere that not only is the code on the CD's but that the actual Sony hardware (e.g. CD drives) is also compromised and this is hitting the sales of Sony products hard.
It clearly seems to be a case of a company shooting itself in the foot bigtime - and in the pre-Christmas peak sale time as well!
For anyone who wants to read more see The Register here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/01/sony_rootkit_drm/Incidentally, the Sony problem does not affect anyone using Macs or Linux systems - just Windows.
