I don't generally buy music or ebooks online, even though I would like to. I just can't bear the restrictive copy protection that comes attached with online purchases. In fact, I get angry as I think about the experiences I've had with DRM, and the ever encroaching control that content owners leverage with it. So I was surprised to discover a use of DRM that I'm actually not too bothered by.

One of my first experiences with DRM was with a CD stuffed full of ebooks. While I can still get to them, I have to use the provider's proprietary software to do so. Sure, the software has great searching and some other nice features, but what if I want a book on my Pocket PC so I can take it with me? No luck. Also, the company that produced the CD is no longer in business, so there are no updates to the software. How long will it be before the software becomes incompatible with a newer version of Windows, and I have to resort to using a virtual PC to use it? Just give me the content. I'm not going to post it all to the internet.

Another experience was with Audible.com. My family and I were about to take a cross-country road trip, and I decided to buy an audio book of Where the Red Fern Grows for my boys to listen to as we drove. Again you have to use Audible.com's really lousy media player. If my wife wanted to listen to the book on her Palm, she had to install their lousy media player there, too. There's all kinds of device registration crud to wade through as well (which is horribly broken if you try to use multiple Windows XP user accounts). The dumb thing is, in spite of all the protections, they let you burn the content to regular audio CDs with no DRM at all. I did that, then ripped the six CDs back to MP3 so I could have a single CD. The difference between six CDs and one is significant when you've got four people in a Honda Civic for three days. Just give me the MP3s and save yourself the trouble of writing lame and limiting media players, and save me the trouble of burning seven CDs when I only want one.

There are some places where you can get legal, DRM-free songs. I don't listen to classical music as much as I once did, but eclassical is a great source from which I've bought some music. Some artists give away tracks on their sites, or sell them for a reasonable price. I've gotten such stuff from Moosebutter, Norah Jones, John Schmidt, and others. There's also BeatPick, where you can not only buy music, you can then use it royalty-free for non-commercial projects, like as a soundtrack to a video.

There are lots of great articles about the perils of DRM, and especially the DMCA, on the Electronic Frontier Foundation site. There's so much good stuff there I can't hope to argue so well and as deep. But there's one argument I've heard about DRM that brings me back to the usage I'm content with. Some say that purchasing content with DRM is really just renting it, with an undisclosed rental period. A case in point is my ebook collection heading toward technical obsolescence.

So what if you are just renting content? Renting it for free, in fact? My city's library has an arrangement with NetLibrary wherein, after registering at the physical library, I can download audio books for free. The books have DRM that expires the content after the check-out period is up. I downloaded a Pimsleur language course audio book so I could brush up on my Portuguese. Foi difí­cil? Claro que não! It works just like a library, but a lot more convenient. And if it takes DRM for that to be workable, well I can live with that.

I had a little trouble with my hard drive a couple of weeks ago. Some kind of fairly serious hiccup. It is limping along reasonably well again, but there have been a few files damaged. I just went to play some Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband and discovered that it wouldn't play because of a licensing problem.

Probably another casualty of the hard drive problems. No worries, though, because of course I backed up the license files. I navigate the UI and click on the Manage Licenses dialog's Restore Now... button. Time to worry. WMP can't restore backed-up licenses either.

If I had bought this music as a download, I'd be pretty much outta luck. I got it courtesy of a Capitol Records CD, though, just one that unfortunately is copy-protected. Here's what it says in tiny print on the back of the jewel case:

This product limits your ability to make multiple digital copies of its content, and you will not be able to play this disc or make copies onto devices not listed as compatible. In rare cases you may experience difficulties with compatible devices. This product is provided AS IS, without any warranties. You bear the entire risk as to the quality and performance of this product; if this product is defective or results in damage to your property, you assume the entire cost of repair.

Doesn't that just make you feel happy to be a Capitol customer?