Explaining DRM to Your Sister

Ironically, following on the heels of my recent post about DRM affecting non-techies, my sister got a crash course in DRM (and circumventing it!). Today, she IMed me and the conversation follows:

Her: "do you know why the songs I purchased on itunes arent playing on my ipod?"

Me: "DRM"

Her: "What?"

Me: "digital rights management is a way for overzealous content owners to stop the stuff u legally purchase from working how u want it to; it thinks u've given the song to another person. you have to burn the songs to ca CD, then rip them back as MP3. doesn't that suck?"

Her: "that just pisses me off"

Me: "you can tell Hollywood to piss off, but it'll do little good"

Her: "and they want me to keep buying stuff???"

And even though she is fairly competent with a computer, she couldn't figure out how to jump through the RIAA's hoops without my help. You think she's going to buy a lot more from iTunes?

Hey, Jobs, you better get on that DRM removal...