I read something about a problem in Windows Media Player called "DRM". Does anybody know what this means?

Digital Rights Management. It's a phrase that's used to refer to the general subject of protecting a piece of media from unauthorized copying.

 

Wikipedia has a decent background article on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management

I read the article, and I think it is a good idea. There are lots of people out there that are getting music for free, and making the price of music increase for everyone else.

 

Why is this a problem with Windows Media Player?

because DRM is very very bad

I don't know what the issue with WMP is that you might be referring to. There have been a number of technical issues with regard to DRM that continue to be discussed in the industry. WMP plays a role in that discussion.

 

The down side of DRM is that it infringes upon the widely accepted concept of "fair use". In other words, being able to purchase something (legally), and then use it in various mediums. Opponents of DRM feel that, as the entertainment industry continues to thrive in spite of piracy, the real issue is increasing profits.

 

While making money is in itself not a bad thing, publically-traded corporations have an inherent flaw, in the sense that they're obligated to their stockholders to increase the value of their stock. Nothing else, in fact, matters. Generally speaking, the way to increase stock value is to increase sales. If the market is saturated (as the entertainment market is), then your growth comes from either (a) growth in the entertainment sector as a whole (slow and shared), and (b) finding new profit centers (such as, for example, charging people double if they play the music on two different devices).

 

Both sides of the debate have valid points. Ultimately I believe the problem will be solved by a combination of technology and a re-inventing of the entertainment industry over time. But in order to make that happen, customers need to continue to motivate the industry NOT to close off fair use methods.