Tougher DRM in Windows Media Player 11
The release notes for the beta release of Windows Media Player 11 indicate that the DRM policy will be considerable tighter, most notably is the inability of moving your DRM'd media "Licenses" from computer to computer.
Now I've been involved enough in computers to have had a hard drive crash on me once in awhile, not to mention upgrading my systems over the years. According to the notes, there will also be a "limited" number of times of license recovery when burning copy protected music which is similar to Apple's Fairplay CD burning limitations. Consider the fact Vista will require better hardware for many of us, so what you buy now, you may not be able to put on that new system.
And while it's beta still, there are also issues with the Windows Media Center Edition when you record a protected show off a premium channel not playing after three days. So much for time shifting. I guess I'll just have to cancel HBO and Showtime every time I go on vacation since it's useless paying for something I can't record and watch at a later date.
I'm not happy about the fact that If I choose to buy widows media player 11 DRM'd content that there may be issues on moving that content to the new system or a larger hard drive, such as Microsoft Vista requiring bigger and better hardware. I'm sure all the content producers would love a continual re-investment of media, but I don't see that happening when many of us have a significant investment in media and will choose to not upgrade to the latest and greatest software.
For one, I will not be buying any DRM'd media content if I can't be guaranteed that I'll be able to transfer that content to a new system, and not just for a limited number of times either, it has to be in perpetuity.
