La Shawn may not be on the bleeding edge, but she weighs in anyways:

DRM, which stands for digital rights management, is on its deathbed.

(Also see Slow March To DRM Free Music Becomes A Sprint)

DRM was designed to protect copyright and curb piracy by preventing a user from copying his/her music, even if acquired legally, to multiple devices or computers. But DRM is dying.

You may not be “into” downloading digital music files right now, but you will be. Once upon a time, people resisted giving up those eight track and cassette tapes. They eventually crawled out of the Stone Age and bought compact disks. Now, CDs seem like relics.

(Whenever I’m “forced” to buy a CD, I always end up ripping it to my computer’s hard drive and copying the files to my iPod. Don’t you?)

The digital download is the new paradigm. Pros: There’s no plastic wrapping or case, and you don’t have to buy an entire album. Con: No lyrics booklet or liner notes.

Digital files are available in WMA (Windows Media Audio) and MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3) formats. Some say MP3s offer a “very high sound quality” compared to WMAs, and contain no DRM restrictions. As such, you can play MP3 files are almost any digital music device, including the iPod and the Zune. WMAs, which are compatible with PlaysForSure devices, are not compatible with the iPod or the Zune.

I thought iTunes had some kind of DRM on their downloads, even though they are MP3 based. Now you can pay more for DRM free versions of iTunes.

Keep in mind- if your sound system is better quality, especially the speakers, you will notice a distinct sound quality loss if playing ripped music.

I use an ipod in the car, but it sounds poor on my stereo. Hence, why I continue to buy CD's, specifically classical.

How do you find the sound quality on the non ripped downloads from iTunes?

Because 80% of what I've downloaded [and subsequently burned to CDs]is Colombian music from btween the 40s to 80s, the sound quality isn't great to begin with. I had one mix with a recent song [Juanes] and it blasts me out of my seat when it comes on.

I'm almost ready to deliver myself from the ridiculous proliferation of burned CDs and get an iPod for the car, but there is still not enough memory at my price point and I know I'll end up spending double that on the after market gadgets and stuff.