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It's not about what's good/convenient for you, it's about what's convenient for them (i.e. makes them the most money)

Yeah, but the problem is, people aren't stupid. Or, alternatively, people are stupid and hence difficult to reason with. DRM crap may work beautifully in computer world, but even if DRM crap has very long and glorious history in console world as well, the manufacturers have been smart enough not to annoy the hell out of the consumers with trivial garbage that should "just work".

There have been pay-for-play console services. For some reasons, they haven't caught on. And these days, people don't want consumer electronics that vitally depend on the manufacturer. And Microsoft is smart enough not to repeat anyone else's mistakes.

Sure, Microsoft might think that fascist DRM is the way of the future, but they're smart enough to think first. In console world, the DRM has to be silent and invisible, and not annoy the users. A network dependancy for its own sake would kill the console and they know it.

For those who missed the DivX fiasco the first time.

Agreed, DIVX, Circuit City's ill conceived, crappy limited-play DVD format - that offered inexpensive DVDs that could be watched for 48 hours from the initial viewing. There after you could pay to watch it again, or buy lifetime on the disk. However, even it you had lifetime on your disk it was tied to your player, so a friend with a DIVX player would have to pay to watch your disk.

What I really hate about Disney DVD's is how they force sub-titles on so you have to read the crappy songs, well that and the fact that they pull titles from the market, so they can re-release them years later.

if Microsoft pulls the plug my music collection evaporates a month after it stops

Oh, that will never happen (remembering the flame wars between pro and anti DIVX folks where the DIVX opponents were saying all of those silver DIVX disks would one day be useless and the pro DIVX folks saying they were full of shit).

I think the final thing when DIVX went under was that those silver DIVX discs would only play for another year or something...

(Awaiting flames from 13 yo /. readers too young to remember DIVX and not understanding the difference between DIVX and DivX...)

These days, Divx is an MPEG-4 encoding/format thingy pushed by DivxNetworks. It has no relation to the Circuit City version.

To make matters worse, there was a cracked Microsoft MP4(?) codec floating around a few years ago that was called DivX or DivX :) or something; it's not related to either of the other Divxes AFAIK.

26 letters in the alphabet = 456,976 different 4-letter combinations, and all of those clowns had to pick the same 4 letters in the same order. grrrr

can't burn recorded TV shows to DVD, or even copy and play them back on other PCs ... And $1500 for the starter box

Wow, sounds like this is shaping up to be the next Div-X

For those of you following at home, that's Divx the doomed DVD format, not DivX the video codec.