FairUse4WM strips Windows Media DRM

It was just a matter of time before something like this happened. Interestingly, engadget has written An Open Letter to Microsoft – Why you shouldn't kill FairUse4WM, but I wouldn't be surprised if this one gets fixed before the next patch Tuesday hits. For regular readers, you'll know that I am not 100% anti-DRM. But, I am anti-DRM when it's used in ways that work against consumers, which unfortunately these days is most of the time. The greed and hubris of most media companies these days is simply appalling. They'd prefer that you'd have purchased the very same song via LP, then tape, then CD, then PSP and then digitally. The best part is, for the last one..you don't even own it. You're just borrowing it, and in most cases the cost is more than you purchased it for previously. Their costs are shrinking by leaps and bounds, yet they want to pass none of that along. What's worse, if you use an OS such as Linux then you can't even legitimately purchase songs via most services in the first place. It's as if they want to drive people to P2P networks so they have an excuse for failing, and fail they will if they keep up the current trends. They are learning the same lesson that Microsoft is just starting to learn – if you squeeze your customers who are legitimately trying to play by the rules to the point that those customers feel you're being predatory, in the end they will find a way to leave. It may take a long time for a viable alternative to come in the case of monopolies, but it is inevitable. It's not that complicated. Give me a music service that doesn't have absurd TOS and arbitrary limitations and I will happily send you my money. Not only that, I will tell everyone else to do the same. If you can find a way to do DRM in a way that does not limit my legitimate use in any way but prevents mass distribution, I could care less to be honest. I don't want to steal…I just don't want to feel like you're stealing from me.
–jeremy
DRM, FairUse4WM, Microsoft, PlaysForSure, Linux