This is off topic but it may be of interest to many users.

<http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt>

This discussion is in regards to the increased usage of DRM and why it is bad for both users and businesses.  One quote that I found quite interesting was.

"The same thing happened to a lot of people I know who used to rip
their CDs to WMA. You guys sold them software that produced
smaller, better-sounding rips that the MP3 rippers, but you also
fixed it so that the songs you ripped were device-locked to their
PCs. What that meant is that when they backed up their music to
another hard-drive and reinstalled their OS (something that the
spyware and malware wars has made more common than ever), they
discovered that after they restored their music that they could
no longer play it. The player saw the new OS as a different
machine, and locked them out of their own music."

With the RIAA looking at more and more restrictions on how you use your legally purchased products this is important.

I use Linux so this isn't an issue.  I also use ogg for ripping my CD's as there is no DRM in ogg.  There is supposed to be DRM added to mp3 codec later this year.  I am still looking for a portable player that will play ogg files.  I know that IRiver has a couple of models.