Gateway to Ship PCs with Pre-Installed DRM Music Files

Captain Chad writes "News.com has an article about Gateway's decision to bundle Pressplay's music service with its PCs. Of interest is the fact that 2000 popular songs will come pre-installed, helping reduce download time for those of us with modems." I wonder how much Pressplay is paying for this privilege. All sorts of interesting legal wrinkles here: you're buying a computer which contains data that you cannot legally access.

Comments

why?

[minektur]

Would anyone really buy a computer just to get the music on it? Buy a CD, or just use one of the many p2p apps out there.... sheesh

you're buying a computer which contains data that

[bsDaemon]

You probably recieve a right to use when you buy the computer with them. and FP or something.

Let me guess.......

[LorneReams]

The files are named *.mp_ or *.wa_ morons

Great...

[WPIDalamar]

so I order a PC and I get a full hard drive of Britney spears and the Back Street Boys.

It's weird... you buy the data, but aren't allowed to use it.

Re:Why not legal?

[b0r1s]

Horrible "editing" on Michael's part. The actual article (which I'm sure he didn't read) says:

Under the Pressplay deal, Gateway consumers can access the Pressplay service and features in several ways, including a 90-day free subscription to the service that contains 2,000 songs preloaded and available for streaming and downloading.

So, you can listen to the songs free for 90 days (you probably can not burn them to CD, though), and after that time, you'll probably be locked out from them. Then you can delete them, or subscribe: your choice.