Several years ago Microsoft made a big push of "PlaysForSure." The PlaysForSure campaign was a promise that music crippled with Microsoft's DRM would work on all PlaysForSure branded players. It was a promise for forward and backward compatibility: you could purchase the crippled music with the knowledge that it would work on today's and tomorrow's digital audio players. You could purchase a digital audio player secure in the knowledge that you'd be able to play music purchased online today and tomorrow.

Completely unshockingly, Microsoft lied.

Microsoft is shutting down MSN Music and replacing it with Zune Marketplace. The Zune Marketplace won't work with the old PlaysForSure devices. If the PlaysForSure campaign convinced you that buying a PlaysForSure media player was a long term investment, you just got screwed As an added bonus, the Zune can't play the old PlaysForSure music. So if you bought a bunch of crippled songs believing that PlaysForSure meant you'd be able to play it on new devices, no, Microsoft no longer supports that.

I'd be hard pressed to imagine a better example of why DRM is a terrible idea. It puts you at the mercy of the publisher. If technology changes, or it meets the publisher's need, you may be locked out of the music, books, or movies you've paid for. DRM means "crippled."