Via DRM Crippled CD: A bizarre tale in 4 parts, I came across this article: Burning the Faithful: The ironic result is that record companies treat their customers -- those who've chosen not to acquire music via illegal but easily accessible file-sharing sites -- as potential criminals. [...] In other words, DRM frustrates only the least capable, compelling them to get more capable, which provides them both a path around the restrictions and a tempting offer to stop buying CDs altogether.

The first article tells the story of a Suncomm protected CD from the band My Morning Jacket, which can't be played on anything but a Windows PC. Technically it's not even a CD, it won't (allegedly) play in a standard CD player. Furthermore, the copy protection was placed by the distributor, and not requested by either the artist or the label (ATO Records).

Related: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far, which is an in-depth technical analysis of what happens when you buy Get Right with the Man by Sony BMG. You are required to run DRM software by Sony, software which installs what is called a root kit. Root kits are typically used to hack computers and turn them into zombies, or sniff passwords, or pretty much anything you can do once you've broken the security on a computer. Apparently Sony is now installing this software when you attempt to play one of their CDs on a Windows PC. The consequences: well, for starters, allegedly the root kit code is poorly written which means (in my mind) it can be compromised by hackers for further, unintended uses. Furthermore it degrades the processing on the computer, making it slower and prone to crashes.

Just like with region coding for DVDs, the recording industry seems determined to drive its customers away, while doing nothing to prevent the hard core people who are determined to crack and pirate music from doing so. I've decided not to purchase any DRM'd CDs, and generally avoid even buying tracks off Apple's iTunes. I've been bitten by a couple of CDs which weren't marked as having DRM, so the solution might be to just cease buying music entirely. We have ~12,000 tracks on our music server (almost all ripped from CDs we purchased). That might just be enough music for awhile.

Following up: someone has written a trojan or virus to exploit the security compromise created by the Sony DRM software: New virus uses Sony BMG software:

When recipients click on an attachment, they install malware, which may tear down a computer's firewall and give hackers access to a PC. The malware hides by using Sony BMG software that is also hidden -- the software would have been installed on a computer when consumers played Sony's copy-protected music CDs.