Slashdot Mirror
Sony Connect Online Music Download Store Launches
securitas writes "USA Today's Jefferson Graham reports that today Sony launched its online music download store, Sony Connect, to compete with Apple's leading iTunes service. The tracks use the MagicGate DRM copy-protection scheme and will work only with Sony Memory Stick-compatible devices including VAIO computers, CLIE PDAs, MiniDisc, CD and Walkman products. Sony will also launch a new line of 1-gigabyte Hi-MD disc players that support the service. Sony Connect's catalog sports 500,000 tracks from independent and major labels and songs sell for 99 cents each or $10 per album. The service uses Sony's SonicStage software and works with Windows 98SE-XP PCs only. It is only available in the USA until the planned European launch in June. That's a whole lot of restrictions in an already-fragmented market. More at The Register and The Age."
Is this just a way to sell the devices?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
. . . even right down to the vendor lock-in part. Wonderful. Wake me when I can buy, rather than rent, music.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
Sony Connect Online? What an unfortunate acronym. What are they going to do, sue iTMS for selling music, the concept which they apparently own?
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
1. They're a major record label AND a major PC vendor
2. They can get into the Japanese market easier
I think they'll be able to clobber Apple.
Best Buy can have you arrested
it such a small share, I only know of one company that uses it (correct me if I am wrong)
when I look for a divice that uses a flash card, I do not buy sony because I will not be able to use it on any other device I already own, right now I am looking at digital camras, and I sony is not even an option for me because I can not use it with any other device I use, I want one with an sd card because all my other devices accept an SD card.
I think it is not a good idea to only suppord devices that only use a memory stick for it, since, that limites your market right there.
Who really cares about sony's mp3 store solution, especially with the files being crippled. And it only works on the actual system it was compiled on apparently...
i don't think steve jobs has anything to fear from sony considering you have an old, aging minidisc format, working on only win98-xp pcs, and really not offering up that much initial space, 1 gig? i'm not even an mp3 whore and i have more music than that.
...will work only with Sony Memory Stick-compatible devices... ...1-gigabyte Hi-MD disc players...
From the sonyconnect site: "What devices are compatible with Connect?
Any ATRAC-compatible device from Sony works with Connect."
Great! This will be a huge hit with the people who thought Apple's music store doesn't support enough players.
I wonder how many iPods there are out there in the public's hands for every Sony Memory-Stick and "Hi-MD" device. I'm guessing at least 4, and that's being generous to Sony.
And 1GB. Wow. That's sooo much music. Has anyone at Sony ever even heard of hard drives? C'mon, I was expecting some sort of competition here, but this is more like a joke.
Anyone know what restrictions the DRM imposes? They conveniently make no mention of it on their 5-page website (overview, features, download, customer support, independent label signup). I'd say that's pretty relevant information to put out front if you want to convince people to download your software.
-Daniel Pritchard
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That's a whole lot of restrictions in an already-fragmented market.
The trendy people and the first-out-of-the-gate people have already gone to Apple. And people interested in their own personaly freedom and fair use will be using one of the services that doesn't include all this hand-tying. So I think Sony might get 10 or 20 people to use this.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
The claim is mostly inaccurate because it presupposes that the friend would otherwise have bought a copy from the publisher. That is occasionally true, but more often false; and when it is false, the claimed loss does not occur.
The claim is partly misleading because the word "loss" suggests events of a very different nature--events in which something they have is taken away from them. For example, if the bookstore's stock of books were burned, or if the money in the register got torn up, that would really be a "loss." We generally agree it is wrong to do these things to other people. But when your friend avoids the need to buy a copy of a book, the bookstore and the publisher do not lose anything they had. A more fitting description would be that the bookstore and publisher get less income than they might have got. The same consequence can result if your friend decides to play bridge instead of reading a book. In a free market system, no business is entitled to cry "foul" just because a potential customer chooses not to deal with them.
The claim is begging the question because the idea of "loss" is based on the assumption that the publisher "should have" got paid. That is based on the assumption that copyright exists and prohibits individual copying. But that is just the issue at hand: what should copyright cover? If the public decides it can share copies, then the publisher is not entitled to expect to be paid for each copy, and so cannot claim there is a "loss" when it is not. In other words, the "loss" comes from the copyright system; it is not an inherent part of copying. Copying in itself hurts no one.
DRM and proprietary memory stick, that just doubles my reasons not to subscribe to it.
Yeah, Sony Connect Online. Only 699 US dollars per song.
Too bad you sold it. I got a package deal brand new for $70 at the local electronics store.
I didn't install Sony's software (just the drivers and the OpenMG encoder) -- I use RealPlayer 10 which is surprisingly a decent product... Real cleaned up their act. The RealPlayer plugin for NetMD doesn't have DRM... although it takes a bit of work to get my iTMS purchased files onto my NetMD.
Also if you purchased a more expensive model it would have had a SPDIF input.
I've been buying music lately from Allofmp3.com, covered lately in Slashdot. A review of it can be found here.
It's cheap (1 cent per megabyte), great quality (offers me lossless FLAC files), and legal (royalties paid to ROMS, the relevant group in Russia). And the files are unencumbered
All the problems of iTunes (summarized excellently at Downhill Battle) still apply. Why go for something restricted, too expensive, and too controlled by the media monopoly, when you can get cheap legal music from Allofmp3 or similar services?
|/usr/games/fortune
Sony does make Good TV's and DVD players, however, that's the extent to which I like there products. Anything that is just proprietary BS, I just leave alone - hopefully this won't creep into the TV DVD market, though I hear they are making TV's that use memory sticks.
Can blonde people use it or only brunettes?
Sony still doesn't get it.
Betamax : Tried to push its own standard. Failed even though it was superior.
Minidisc : See above
Memory Stick : Again persists on going it alone even though other standards are more popular and widespread (CF and SD)
Sony connect : Lauches its own spin when other established players are already in the market.
Interoperability means nothing to these guys.
It'd be interesting if Sony added some features to the upcoming PS3 to included support for their music store. With game consoles gradually veering towards becoming "home media centers" (or whatever the buzz word is today), this seems like a possible move.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
1. Sony's being one major label only gives other labels a disincentive to cooperate...and most artists fall into the "not on Sony" category. Sony has no majority of artists on its labels.
2. Yeah. Apple has no following in Japan at all. Give me a break! The Japanese can't keep their hands off sexy, stylish, hip little things. I predict it'll be even harder to get your hands on the iPod mini in Japan (upon its release there) as it has been in the US. Name a Sony product that's come out in the last three years that's got anywhere near the amount of buzz as the 3rd-gen. iPod and iPod mini.
I think the words of Seinfeld's Jackie Chiles will soon apply for Sony here: "This is the most public yet of my many humiliations."
Sony's stuff is restricted to Sony's patforms. At least Apple's iTunes software is multiplatform, openly usable (there are cgi scripts that will query the database and get songs for you) - I dont think Sony will get very far with their online music store.
-Imidazole2
it's small and it runs for 50 hours on a single AA battery. That and it's cheap -- I can [destroy] it and not worry!
What a coincidence!
That's the same reason I drive a Yugo!
"Walk into a store," he says. "You don't see MiniDisc players promoted or people talking about them. Its time was three years ago, and it didn't make it."
Since everything he says is wrong, can we assume that Sony actually has a chance?
You would think the Betamaxalicious success of MiniDisc (yeah yeah, its big in Japan, whatever) would have taught Sony a lesson here. Its amazing, Sony has gone from being one of the smartest companies in consumer electronics to one of the dumbest in a very short period of time.
Their financials are in the crapper and they can't seem to bring anything to market to dissaude iPod buyers.
So they've got their featured artist featured on the right side of the homepage. You'd think maybe you could click on the graphic and access those tracks? Nah! That'd be too logical. Usability. Start there, then add the fluffy stuff later.
We know you are interested in using the Connect music store. Unfortunately SonicStage only works on Windows 98SE and above.
We have no immediate plans to support other operating systems at this time. However, we believe this is an important user base and we hope to support it in the future.
This is so sad... i'll stick with iTunes
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
I'd mod the above as Flamebait. *Any* time competition enters the market it's good for the industry.
And you disagree with me here why? I didn't say it was bad for the industry!!
I'm criticizing SonyConnect because the Sony store and players are more restrictive than Apple. If you hate Apple, then fine. Don't buy an iPod or don't use iTMS. But do you think Sony is going to support OGG? Do you think they'll support AAC (DRM or no)? If you do you're dreaming. And if you hate Apple because of their "restrictions" you are going to hate Sony even more.
Sony makes Apple look like a bastion of free choice by comparison.
When will the music companies realise that $1 per track is far too expensive, and their profits would probably increase if they acutally decreased the prices. And they'd have much happier customers as a result.
If tracks were 10c each, I would quite happily buy whole albums without worrying if I might not like them after a couple of plays. I buy up whole genres of music - if it cost me $50 to buy up all the best punk tracks of the 70's (or whatever), I would do that, despite it being a genre I never normally listen to.
However, I spend very little on music. I just don't like to get ripped off and I don't think $1 a track is justifiable when they have virtually zero distribution costs. And don't give me all that crap about how expensive it is to promote a record, or how the cost has to be high to pay for the flops. That's just all bullshit, especially with the near zero distribution and manufacture costs that the internet allows.
I use the itunes store. Burn Cds which seem to work anywhere I have access to a cd player (ie on my work computer).
I'm amazed at the tone of comments here. Everybody's saying since Apple's done it already then forget it. Aren't you folks for choice? Do you really want a monopoly by Apple, no matter how good it is? It's not "fragmentation" it's "more choice is good for the consumer."
OK, this one has DRM and vendor lock-in etc. But it's still a competition for Apple. And unless Sony and Apple get into a cartel, that's a good thing. Because at the very least, Sony can generate an environment where prices may even drop. Remember, you wouldn't see any sale prices on your favorite food if there was only one supermarket chain in existence.
Are you people really such sad, ignorant elitists?
But IBM did, just because they succeeded in selling their existing business customers on the concept of IBM being the "Standard For Business" in the PC market too. Once a few businesses signed on, it was all over for Apple in the business sector because you wanted to go with the standard. And that was the end of the PC wars.
So where's Sony's parallel advantage here? I think that analogy is a good thing to keep in mind in general, but very fallacious because Sony doesn't have a big captive audience that they can convince on a new standard.
For the record, MP3 is the Standard For Music, with all its faults (poor quality and no DRM from the label's POV) is the standard and will remain so for a while because of its ubiquity and freedom of use. The iPod has become the de-facto "Standard For MP3-Players" and it's not a personal thing--I'm just going by marketshare here.
All these services requiring their own software, or even their own devices...or at least strongly discouraging using anything else...
I'm sorry, but I can't help but say anything but "fuck you!" to all that.
If they can make their DRM work just fine with winamp, and not require me to have any special software to use their site, I might be able to deal with it.
You might try and compare it to online games, but most of those, you get the game and the rest is pretty much automatic. It's more like if Amazon and Barnes and Noble required you to use their own proprietary browsers to shop their web sites.
It might be MEANT to be a pain in the ass to make it harder to switch to a competitor...but the first site that can keep out of court and turn a profit while using nothing more than a web browser, will be the one who can REALLY take on Apple.
Perhaps moderators should check sources as well.
http://www.wagnerconsultingllc.com/ goes nowhere. Hidden backdoors in BSD? One Eyed Jack? His journal claims that he's charging Rusty six figures for work on kuro5hin.org's back-end code, and his other entries are almost as amusing.
Sir, your fiction borders on the believable, in a Clancy-esque way. I congratulate you.
Hamster
If customers buy responsibly and if NetMD/OpenMG was any indication of how tight sony's DRM is, they shouldn't do so well against Apple. Apple has the advantage of the iPod and the fact that its players hold loads more music than an MD (which you have to burn) or a Memory Stick (which you burn your money buying). sony is just too restrictive when it comes to things. I couldn't even upload a recording I made via NetMD. I had to use a freaking optical out cable and manually record it. Who wants restrictions like that?
MY SECRET DIARIES
This service is dead dead dead dead DEAD . Toast. Kaputt. Stick a fork in it.
sulli
RTFJ.
...are what first sprung to mind. Perhaps the analogy isn't quite right, but I think Sony's making a somewhat similar mistake here. But then I realized that maybe Sony considered Betamax to be a success? ... and at the time, they didn't even control any content, like they do now.
It's interesting how Sony portrays their own history.
It cannot be denied that SONY was once one of the greatest companies on earth. Take a look if you have not already seen this gallery of Walkmen. They got it right lots of times, in many areas.
In this one area, digital music, they have got it completely wrong. This is unusual for SONY. Their portable digital music players have completely flopped, their proprietary encoder is a failure, and they are being left out in the cold in an area where they should be numnber one.
They were in a position to set the rules. They own Columbia and its huge back catalogue. They have the technical expertise to build the most seductive portables. They have software developers. What they were/are missing is the foresight.
They should have:
They would have owned the portable music player space, created the number one destination for music online, demonstrated that MP3s are the new radio, short circuted all the RIAA lawsuits, and....acted more like SONY.
ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
Sony Software has always sucked - especially SonicStage. It came with my MiniDisc-Player and it is #*+/&%$"$%!!!! And Sony customer service is even worse ...
...) seem to fail completely to cling to their lead positions in the digital age.
Just another single vendor DRM format - just what the world needed. So far Apple has beaten Sony on it's own field of expertise: cool consumer electronics.
All those former industry leaders in the analog arena (Sony, Kodak,
Sony makes really good and somewhat affordable electronics, but I haven't been impressed by their Customer Service in any way. I used to be subscribed to Star Wars Galaxies (one of their MMORPGs) and I was appauled at how terrible their support was. I sent their support crew a number of emails, every single one was ignored. Their forums were just huge flame-fests.. it was crazy.
Because of SWG, I refuse to ever use a Sony service again (I'll stick with napster), although I'll still purchase their electronic goods.
I've noticed that iTunes and Real have the same catalog. I haven't checked out Napster, but I'm starting to wonder if they are all sharing the same exact music source that the labels have approved. Does anyone know for sure?
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
DOWNLOADS LICENSE AND LIMITATIONS ON USE.
Sony Connect hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Connect Downloads in accordance with the following limitations (the "Limitations on Use"):
Permitted Uses: You may play the Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times on up to three (3) personal computers that are registered with the Connect service, including the personal computer on which the Connect Downloads are originally downloaded. Once downloaded to that personal computer, you may transfer the licensed Connect Downloads an unlimited number of times (except for WMG's Content, which may be transferred up to three (3) times) to portable music devices and media that read the OpenMG DRM such as the HiMD, the Net MD, and the Memory Stick media. You may not thereafter transfer, copy or export (or the like) such Connect Download from one such device to another, or to any media of any kind without maintaining the OpenMGDRM. In addition, you may also "burn" up to a total of ten (10) (up to five (5) permanent copies of the Connect Downloads in compressed form in the Atrac3 codec encrypted and protected by the OpenMG DRM and up to five (5) Redbook CD's) to either blank recordable CD-R compact discs or blank recordable CD-RW compact disc (i.e., a physical, non-interactive record configuration that conforms to either (i) in the case of CD-Rs, the so-called "Orange Book Part II" technical specification for "write once" compact discs or (ii) in the case of CD-RWs, the so-called "Orange Book Part III" technical specification for "re-writable" compact discs). Any burning or transferring capabilities of the Connect Downloads are solely an accommodation to you and shall not constitute a grant or waiver (or other limitation or implication) of any rights of the copyright owners of the sound recording and underlying musical composition embodied in the Connect Download.
Non-Permitted Uses: Any use of the sound recordings as embodied in the Connect Download other than as permitted above is a violation of the copyright in such sound recording under applicable laws, and is prohibited. Except as expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above, you may not reproduce, distribute or transfer the Connect Downloads, in any format. For example, you may not: (i) transfer the Connect Downloads to anyone else; (ii) register more than 3 computers with the Connect store at any one time; (iii) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to more than the number of portable music devices expressly permitted in the "Permitted Uses" section above; (iv) "burn" more than ten (10) copies of any particular Connect Download to blank recordable compact disc; or (v) copy or transfer the Connect Downloads to any storage device or blank media not specifically authorized in the "Permitted Uses" section above. In addition, you may not reverse engineer, transcode, decompile, translate, adapt, modify, disassemble or otherwise tamper with the Content, or the software, or circumvent any technology designed to enforce these Limitations on Use. You further agree that you will not attempt to modify the software or the Usage Rules for any reason whatsoever, including for the purpose of disguising or changing ownership of the Content.
Notes:
Do not use SonicStage while logged on to a domain user account under Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition.
SonicStage should be installed while logged on to an account with administrator privileges.
So I can't be logged into a domain while using the software? so much for the "at-work" crowd.
This is actually much bigger than you think. . . in fact it's much
bigger than Sony or portables
This Sony Connect actually fits into a larger distro called AnyMusic available in Japan that was
created by a cooperation of Japanese consumer electronic firms including Sony. AnyMusic
Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sharp, Onkyo, Marantz, Denon, JVC, and Yamaha
plan on creating consumer electronic devices beyond portables that will
be comptable with the online distro (using Atrac3 and OpenMG X/Label
Gate); also likely the Sony PSP/PS3 will also be compatible as well as
other non-sony devices.
Here are some devices that support the format:
Pioneer
X-AM1
Kenwood
Sony
NetJuke (40GB HDD)
Demos:
Corporate
CE
screenshot
I find it interesting that the RIAA spent some time trying to badger Apple into increasing the price-per-song on iTMS, but now Sony (an RIAA member) comes out with their own service selling songs for the same price.
I will never buy a memory stick device again after buying a 256mb stick to play music with, which turned out to be 2x 128mb on a single stick with a "manual" switch to change between to the two banks of memory.
The switch being of course a bloody feature, like I want to pull out the stick and fiddle about with a tiny dip switch everytime I want to listen to a couple of tracks.
>>They were in a position to set the rules. They own Columbia and its huge back catalogue. They have the technical expertise to build the most seductive portables. They have software developers. What they were/are missing is the foresight.
Correct, but what Sony also has is accountants, and they exert undue influence in Sony's strategic decisions. Allow me to digress for a moment, and I'll explain why this matters.
Sony is a two-pronged company -- they sell 1)content (music, movies, etc) and 2) components (televisions, vcrs, robots, etc.)
These two divisions are opposed to one another. The component side wants to make the open, flexible "killer" hardware we want, but the content side of the company wants those devices locked down (to the point that they're not useful) so as to prevent "theft" of intellectual property, copying movies/music, etc. So these two halves are continuously fighting against one another and the CEO must decide what the right balance is.
In step the Accountants. They're there to help the CEO make this decision, but Sony's beanmen only understand a static balance sheet -- as if Sony must choose between sales of Hardware or Content. They conclude that if a sony device can be used to copy music, they will lose sales from the content side of Sony, therefore the device must 1) be locked down, 2) be expensive enough to offset potential losses from the content side, 3)contain DRM to protect Sony's IP.
Fortunately, Sony's not the only player in the market, so their sales remain poor and they end up squandering an opportunity to compete.
This scenario is good!; the way I see it every company that fails at marketing a DRM device is a win for the consumer. Perhaps after years of disappointing sales, the boardroom will tire of seeing their money wasted and demand a decision, one way or the other (content vs. component) be made. Thus, the stalemate is broken and the company can move forward.
In short, Sony's current "have it all" strategy is doomed in a free market*: Given the choice, people don't want DRM. Let's just hope Sony's (or any other company following this model) spectacular economic flame-out doesn't encourage them to pressure government officials to mandate DRM in order to prop up their failing business model.
Here's what I dug up from their horrible site. It's buried in the Terms & Conditions, http://www.sonyconnect.com/tos.html. With my observed differences to iTMS added for flavor.
Three PC's running Connect which may play your purchased files. Which is only available on PCs, no Mac version. iTMS just increased this to 5 PC's.
Each track may be "burned" 10 times: 5 times as a compressed, DRM protected file, and 5 times as an unprotected CD audio track. iTMS makes no claims on limiting the number of times you may copy the protected file. Each track can be burned from a single playlist 7 times (two more than Connect), and from different playlists over and over (no total burn limit).
Unlimited copies to devices which support OpenMG copy protection. Unless you have a file from "WMG", which can only be placed on 3 portable devices. All of the compatible devices are made by Sony. iTMS lets you make unlimited copies to iPods, made by Apple. Depends on the device you like.
Sounds likes iTMS has them blown away. I'm not sure how (or if) these are enforced by Connect. How you do keep people from backing up their purchased files to CDs?
> Cheap media. Sure they don't hold much, but at $2 per 170MB disk, I can carry arround good amount of music. Not as much as an iPod
When I wrote this reply, I interpreted your comment differently. I thought you were saying the media is "not as much [cost] as an iPod" when you apparently meant "not as much music as an iPod." But this is still something to consider.
$2 per 170MB disk
First, observe how ridiculous Sony's pricing here is in itself, when a 700MB standards-based disk called CD-ROM is $0.10.
Second, consider how many of these it would take to carry a substantial portion of music on you:
Let's take my 15GB iPod to compare. That's 88.2 MiniDiscs. Aren't they encased in little sleeves like floppy disks? So that would only take up your entire backpack. And the cost...
89 * $2.00 = $178.
So add $166 to the cost of the player (which you quoted as $130). So at least $308. So for $9 less you could have all your music on the player at the same time, and you wouldn't need a backpack-load of discs to carry it. And it would take about 20 minutes to transfer it the first time instead of having to record 89 MiniDiscs which I'm pretty sure would require a few days and a LOT of patience.
MiniDisc players are good for recording high quality audio, if you ever do that. And if you find the CD player a convenient way of listening to your music collection, but want something smaller, you probably wouldn't be disappointed by MD. But the whole point of good MP3 players (at least for me) is that you can put ALL of your music (or at least all the music that's important to you) on this player and never have to sit down for twenty minutes and think about "which 1% of my music should I take with me today?" With hard-drive based players, you can decide what you want to hear whenever you want, and have it playing five seconds later. Sony can't offer that with Memory Stick or with MD. They need to discover the hard drive. i don't see a real disadvantage to it.
I mean, what's the big incentive to switch from CD to MD? "Well, it's a little smaller. And you can use our proprietary software to restrict your rights to listen to your own music!"
Whereas the incentive to switch from CD to hard-drive players is much more tangible--carry all your music in a package much smaller than your CD [or MD] player, and it also doubles as an external hard drive. To update your collection, you plug it in and it downloads any new songs. This is much more compelling, and it's why Sony will lose this battle by a wide margin.
they could pay $250 for a cutting-edge 4GB iPod Mini will make them the envy of their technologically inferior friends
I paid $72 (new!) for a 20GB Archos about which I have no illusions as to hype factor but whose low price makes it an envied object by many of my friends. Maybe I have cheap friends?
My "cutting-edge" Archos plays video, features speaking-voice menu prompts and playlists, unlimited bookmarking, and supports a robust plugin architecture with games and PDA functions.
If and when the iPod Linux project manages to definitively crack open the closed iPod box then there will get some cool "cutting edge" add-on apps and functions, but until then for me it's a closed uninteresting box very far from the "cutting edge".
Da Blog
I could understand Sony Connect if it existed in a music vacuum, but since it has competition, they would have to answer the single question: What is the compelling advantage to the consumer to buy their product?.
While I have a number of Sony devices which include memory sticks, I haven't considered tasking any of them to be music players because of other limitations inherent to the devices. For example. minimal available memory in a Clie, or the availability of more convenient modes of usage (CDs) in a VAIO notebook.
To repeat, I can't find a single compelling reason to consider purchasing from their online store over its competition. Can you?
-- Gary Goldberg KA3ZYW 301/249-6501 AIM:OgGreeb Digital Marketing Inc., Bowie, MD
The PS2 was released October 2000 in North America--three and one-half years ago.
I purposely worded my question to exclude the PS2. I kinda feel like PlayStation is the only line that Sony's really handled well. And the quality of games available is its best attribute.
PS: You have no clue how many times I had to Google to get that date. The obvious, "playstation 2 release date" just gets list after list of when each game was/will be released.
...that by purchasing these DRMed products and music that you're just encouraging and supporting these large corporations and the **AA's business models?
Even if fair use it taken into consideration through the use of proprietary hardware, the big companies will take those rights away as soon as they have M$-sized market share (proportionally-speaking) and people can't afford to switch to a platform that takes their interests into consideration.
I guess if you're gullible enough to chase after the pretty bells and whistles without considering the consequences, you deserve whatever happens. I guess that really means I don't have a point.
Just ask that Skylarov guy, or DVD Jon, how far US laws extend.