Watch out! Don’t burn that Shania Twain CD with Microsoft Windows Media Player 11, or it might encode whatever you rip with DRM.

Slashdot tells us that Microsoft is tightening the thumbscrews in Windows Media Player 11, by removing the ability to transfer music from machine to machine. This includes mp3s that you rip from your own CDs.

“If you rip your own CDs and the ‘Copy protect music’ option is turned on, WMP11 will require you to ‘connect to a Microsoft Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of times.”

Of course, you don’t HAVE to use Windows Media Player, but a lot of people do. Other programs can be unwieldy and complicated, and a lot of users are clueless about DRM. One only has to take a glance at the comments on Slashdot to understand, as one commenter said, “why iTunes is so hugely popular…” Ugh. Maybe we should all go back to vinyl?

Click here for more vitriol about WMP11

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