MS/DRM
Great rant/analysis at The Register on the announcement of MS's new WIndows Media DRM plan-- specifically on the way that this is presented as providing a wonderful solution for consumers while the "problems" it solves are those defined by the content distributors and on how this further contributes to the demise of actually owning cultural materials rather than subscribing to or renting it (and a restricted version of "it" at that).

You may have spotted that, as it's already perfectly feasible to rip all of your CDs to MP3s, shove them onto your portable music player and stream them around the home, this might not entirely be a solution to your digital entertainment problems. But granted, if from your perspective it's a good deal to pay a monthly fee in order to be able to listen to a big pile of music, then having the ability to listen to it on a portable player might be helpful. Otherwise, in the secure DRMed future you'll do well to keep questioning who exactly it is that 'your' hardware is working for.

Here's locking down you, kid - MS hawks vision of DRM future [printer-friendly] | The Register (via JD Lasica