Microsoft easing up on DVD restrictions – now the others

why not buy one, reformat it and put a real operating system on it?

If the only format a user could recording in is WMV, then that's a copy restriction alone! I.e. There is no legal software that I know of that can convert WMV to a non Microsoft codec.

DiscJugller four can convert mp3's to wav's/wmv's, I am sure it can do the opposite wmv to wab or mp3. I will have to try when I get home.

Just stay away from stuff with copy protection on it. Eventually the companies will figure out they we don't want them. Even if everything had copy protection on it. Then just stop buying stuff. It would only take 2 or 3 weeks of not buying anything with a computer chip in it, and the companies would say hey, we can't sell this crap. We gotta take the copy protection out. Eventually they'll get the point if we don't give in.

dbpoweramp music converter will convert wmv to mp3 format. as far as the rest of us not buying hardware with protection in it to make the manufacturers rethink, that will never happen. there are too many people out there that use computers for legal things. and corporations will always need computers in the workplace. i know a lot of people that have a ton of software and buy it all. some people need to have the latest programs and games, but don't have the money for them, so they make backups from other people, thus stealing the software. companies will replace media that you own for a small fee, and that's ok by me. but do you really need to run pirated software all the time?

Microsoft and HP..there's a partnership made in hell....both sell shoddy gear and don't give a rats arse about the end user...don't believe me ...go to HP's website .........:7

the problem is in most cases you don't know what has copy protection built into it. every dvd and dvd player has built in copy protection, but i have yet to see a warning label on a dvd or dvd player that says you can't copy a copy protected dvd. the manufactures don't want consumers to know about their copy protection systems. just look at the record industry secretly putting copy protection on their cds without a warning label. they didn't want to drive customers away. the only way it can work is if it is done in secret. CGMS/A is not really used at the moment because of the lack of device support. however, i suspect that all the new $1000 dvd recorders and other high end recording devices have CGMS/A built in to them. once every new device has CGMS/A support, broadcasters will be able to prevent all recordings. broadcasters will not turn on the copy protection until nearly every device has CGMS/A support. if they started now to broadcast the copy protection signal encoded in line 21 of the tv picture, people would not buy the new equipment. broadcasters already wartermark their signal with tv logos and advertisements embedded in the picture so it isn't worth recording or viewing. the only way people can see a movie without all theembedded station advertisements and logo shit is to buy or rent the dvd. i've wondered if the movie studios force the broadcasters to watermark the picture with a logo so people will be forced to buy the dvd if they want to see a clean picture.

I'm still staying away from anything with copy protection in it as long as I can. And will encourage everyone I know to do so as well.

JimKiler and ThetarBaby: I'm sure you could convert WMV to MP3/WAV; but that would be the audio only. WMV = Windows Media VIDEO you are thinking of WMA = Windows Media AUDIO