On most devices, IMEI numbers are traditionally burned into a soldered IC, are non-reprogrammable chips, and the numbers cannot be changed, without replacing the phone's main PCB.
There won't be criminals specializing in reprogramming, if the cost to reprogram is so close to the revenue to be gotten from reanimating a stolen phone
this is completely false. Don't spread bad info. Google "how to reprogram your IMEI" I'm not sure the legality of posting a link to this kind of stuff. Please educate yourself before making false blanket statements.
That's not completely true. You could always get TOSLINK audio digitally (yes, it actually supports digital audio, I have one plugged up to a receiver over a fiber) and unencrypted out of the Airport Express. You could also always burn a CD from iTunes and get the red book audio. Practically speaking, this enables you to do things like to stream from an iPhone to something other than the Airport express.
The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on.