[Microsoft dropping DRM from Zune Music Store](http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=mobile_devices&articleId=9015898&taxonomyId=75). Microsoft have seen the writing on the wall for music DRM much faster than expected, and are [following Apple](http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-6172398.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news) into providing music files without DRM restrictions.
This probably really is the end for music DRM, something that is in the best interests of most music lovers and artists. The revolution that’s finally going to happen in music is going to change the shape of it, and is certainly going to make [some forms of music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_Spears) uneconomic, but it will also make other forms feasible that once were not. It’s a whole new world out there and if I was an unsigned artist I would be very excited about the possibilities.
What this isn’t is the death of DRM. The impulse that made the music industry commit [such]( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050204-4587.html) [public](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3140160.stm) [hara-kiri](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060424-6662.html) wasn’t irrational, it was just very poorly judged against their market. In video and television I think we can expect the same behaviour, but with a lot more ferocity. The vast investments in the business models, not least the business models of their suppliers (think Windows Vista), will mean DRM hangs around for some while yet.
Transient content will probably always be advertising supported, since it’s easy and gives access to the most eyeballs. There’s a whole new arms race in there for advertising avoidance software, so the advertising will probably end up pretty subtle. It’ll be just as offensive as TV is now — but hey, go read a book or something.
The DVD market is the one that’s really going to hurt a lot of people. This stuff is being traded big-time on the P2P networks now, and it has become a vital market for a lot of media companies. A lot of series would not be produced without the DVD aftermarket, and the economics of video are, for the moment, different from a lot of music. It will be a few decades before you can make *The West Wing*, from scratch, on your own, in your bedroom, using only a computer. If there isn’t a business model that can support large scale drama with high production values, that would be a real shame.
Video is far less accessible on the move than music too, so being restricted to play your DVDs only on your home player is less of a restriction. I can see a lot of technological battles coming up to try to lock down every single digital and analogue hole in video reproduction. The recent [AACS Crack](http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/27/aacs-drm-cracked-by-backuphddvd-tool/) is only the beginning. Expect a few attempts, some successful, to change the law too.
tio answer your subject’s question, i believe music lovers hope it would be the end of DRM…^_^