said by lawrence171 :

There are only several significant DRM-players in the market.

Digital Right Management is actually quite important, but its merely being abused.

If history tells us anything, it will take approximately 50 years for that to change.

said by thender :

DRM is the equivalent of closing the front door of the apartment complex and leaving the backdoor open. It doesn't keep people from getting in, it just annoys people who want to get home.

said by thender :

DRM isn't important at all.

There will always a different version of that file on usenet, or P2P. Name a single DRMed piece of media on iTunes that isn't on a P2P network or usenet already, in equal or better quality.

If the file is already available on these networks, then there is no point to DRM. DRM is there to prevent the file from being copied, but if there are better copies of the file out there without DRM already, on the networks that DRM is supposed to avoid them going to, then why bother with it? It's a waste of money and it only bothers people.

DRM is the equivalent of closing the front door of the apartment complex and leaving the backdoor open. It doesn't keep people from getting in, it just annoys people who want to get home.

said by lawrence171 :

Of course it is important. However, they're applying it in all the wrong places, and using all the wrong methods.

The file containing personal medical records should be protected, and so should files containing personal information (the military could REALLY use some help in this area).

said by thender :

I didn't see where personal medical records or military information become relevant when discussing music and movies meant for entertainment.

For any sort of media within the scope of this conversation, DRM is useless.