Used to be, only musicians had record contracts.

I think people should just stop buying or renting DVDs that make you sit through an anti-piracy commercial just to get to the menu. I have Netflix. I have no reason to download pirated movies. I'm tired of having to sit through that damn "You wouldn't steal a DVD" bullshit. Sure, you can fastforward (not skip) through it, but apparently the movie studios don't know how awful the fast forward function on our DVD player is. I mean, it requires holding down the button just right and for just long enough, just to go at like 1.5 times normal speed.

It's CDs that I really hate though. It's like the music labels are PUSHING you to steal their shit. I have to inspect the damn things like buying diamonds. I have to look for any kind of copy protection put on it, because more and more, this is happening. CDs that are purposefully damaged in such a way that they won't play in a computer disc drive. Damaged enough to cut their shelf life in traditional CD players as well. I don't like my music to self destruct. CDs that download spyware that stops you from copying them. (Sony) Spyware with security holes that hackers use to send you viruses. CDs that give you rights managed WMV files to play on your computer, instead of letting you rip them into traditional MP3s. What all of those discs have in common is that they cannot be copied into iTunes, cannot be copied onto an iPod. Seeing as those are the only two ways I listen to music, these discs, and sadly--these artists--are useless to me.

Unless they're purchased at a low bit-rate, without album art, from the iTunes store.

Today, the 63 songs I do own from iTunes were held hostage by Apple, which I think was really cool of them. They were actually deleted out of my iPod when I synched this CD I bought yesterday. All because I clicked no to what they call a "voluntary" update of the iPod's software. As far as I can tell, the only function the update serves is adding a little folder for podcasts, of which I have none of. Last time I updated the software, it made me reformat the hard drive and re-transfer 20gb of music over two hours. If this happens again, I'm going to ask Apple for the two hours of my life back or $63 for hijacking music that is rightfully mine.