A recent controversy over Microsoft Windows Media Center has highlighted the perils of DRM (Digital Rights Management). DRM uses secured formats that can cause incompatibilities with other hardware and service and a poor consumer experience when services are down, don't work well together, or restrict expected usage.

A specific case in point was the discovery that Windows Media Center wouldn't let users play certain recorded analog cable TV shows. The reason is that Windows Media Center uses a DRM protocol called CGMS-A that some free and pay channels use. Software like Windows Media Center and hardware like Tivo don't have to use this DRM. But Microsoft chose to include it.