http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4379371.stm Personally, I will not subscribe to any site/medium that forces DRM copy protection down my throat... When I buy music, I see nothing wrong with the ability to...... 1. Create a backup copy (for myself) 2. Copy it to my computer (or another one of MY computers/devices)for personal use. I'm talking personal use here and not the burning of a cd for a friend scenario and most certainly not talking about making it available to P2P sites. Am I alone in this line of thinking....?

Possibly not but I love iTunes and my iPod.

Not defending apple , but you can create a backup copy for yourself using itunes , you can burn the songs to a CD in regular CD audio format if you want. You can also copy it to a limited (5 I think?) number of computers. The one thing I do think is really stupid is the inability to play other file types on an ipod other than apple !

DVDJon has come up witha workaround for the DRM thing, then apple stopped it, the the loophole was opened again. To use it completely violates your iTunes usage T&Cs but anyway if you're interested here is an account of the affair: Loophole made: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/18/itunes_pymusique/ Loophole shut: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/22/apple_blocks_pymusique/ Loophole back: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/23/pymusique_unblocks_itunes/ Another example of apple being pricks: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/15/social_music/