Zune Thoughts: Bill Gates on DRM

"Gates didn’t get into what could replace DRM, but he did give some reasonably candid insights suggesting that he thinks DRM is as lame as the rest of us. Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM... His short term advice: “People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.”"

I think most of us would agree that DRM, at least in its current form, is a complete disaster. While I can understand the industry's desire for DRM, the implementation is flat out not making the grade. People who want to steal music are going to steal it. DRM hinders those of us who are legit buyers from using music we legally purchase. While I have purchased a few DRMed tracks, I mostly adhere to Gate's advice of purchasing the CD and ripping it. Although initially Zune had to make quite a few concessions to the DRM gods to get its feet off the ground, it would be nice to see Zune reach a place market where it can positively affect the state of DRM.