I wrote this in a PC Plus feature back in 2004:

It’s been a long day, and you deserve a treat. Maybe that reissue of the Jeff Buckley album, or the new U2 one. You make a detour on the way home to stop at the record shop, but it’s boarded up – it looks like it’s gone bust. Damn, you think. That’s a shame; still, there’s plenty of CDs at home. You grab a bite to eat and pull out a few CDs, but when you play them, something strange happens. OK Computer, Exile on Main Street, London Calling… all silent. It soon becomes apparent that every single CD you’ve bought from the local record shop has stopped working. You’ve still got some CDs from other shops, but they don’t work on your stereo and you can’t be bothered getting the HMV-compatible hi-fi from the attic, or the Tower-compatible one from the study.

MSN Music subscribers have just received this message:

As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play.

Yet more proof that DRM stands for “bastardy bastardy bastards”.