From: "Glenn Meadows" 

And those within the content provider arean (record companies) have soundly
blasted MS for their stupid and obtuse DRM stuff.  The "beam it to a
friend", play it 3 times, or 3 days and lose it, is the dumbest thing
since left handed screwdrivers.

From the record company side, it's a still born product.

--

Glenn M.
"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in
message news:45c24310$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070201-8754.html
> Bryan Lee, the executive in charge of business development for the Zune
> program, is stepping down from Microsoft to be replaced by J Allard, the
> bald hipster who received much of the credit for building the Xbox brand.
> Microsoft insists that Lee (a 43-year old) is "retiring" for personal
> reasons and absolutely not because of corporate displeasure over the Zune
> launch.
>
> Lee was also on the receiving end of Universal's really great idea that it
> get paid one dollar out of every Zune sale, to make up for the alleged
> piracy that the device's new users were sure to rush out and engage in.
> Consumers might have thought that a man who lists his favorite band as the
> Rolling Stones would have told Universal, "You Can't Always Get What You
> Want," but it was not to be, and Universal got their money.
>
> Lee tried to get the industry to loosen its grip on the music, even
> telling reporters that he would be organizing a conference early in 2007
> to discuss the 3 days/3 plays restriction and other details. Now that he's
> leaving, the status of this alleged pow-wow is unknown.
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5