It was only two weeks that I realized I hadn't paid enough attention to a case and what appeared to be a an average everyday CD purchase revealed itself as a monstrous non-standard beast. Now, I've met a couple of DRM engineers, and most of them have their hearts in the right place, even if I don't agree with how their products are used. In this case, I was given a CD that was just about useless in my personal music ecology: I couldn't use the music on more than one computer (my desktop is my main stereo, but I leave the Quiddity behind when I'm here in Redmond). I couldn't use the music on my portable audio device (Neuros). I couldn't store the music in the format I preferred (not as big of a problem, but still a personal irritance).

I found a program just now to help me make fair use of the Windows Media files that the fake CD did allow me to have. (Albeit it is against the contract that was worst EULA I've ever seen, that was a required click-through in the awful fake CD. Apparently Virgin's lawyers don't like fair use.)