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" Based on two studies of more 2000 college students, the results suggest that despite the potential advantages offered by some DRM restrictions, on balance the elimination of DRM has a net positive impact on producer revenue, profit, and consumer welfare."
I can see this going like this:
Survey person: "do you think DRM is bad"
Average college student: "What's DRM?"
Survey person: "let me ask this a different way; do you think putting a restriction on something you purchased is bad?"
Average college student: "Of course it's bad! ...What's DRM?"
It's truly a mystery that that the industry continues to put it's faith in DRM measures, despite all experience to the contrary. DRM has no affect whatsoever on what the study terms "hardcore pirates", since they have the smarts to bypass the protection. It only inconveniences the actual paying customers, who end up turning to piracy to avoid the inconvenience. In short, DRM is a contributor to piracy, not a deterrent...
I know enough to get around DRM, and used to just download to avoid the hassle of having to deal with it upon re-install, or to not have access to hordes of music under linux, but now with itunes gone drm free, and amazon, etc I purchase 100% of my music, I just want say on where I can use it, if I buy a different mp3 player I dont want to fuss with it.



