When playing a CD becomes a “privilege,” not a right:

Of course, the industry is trying to accomplish its objective by publicly lamenting piracy. If the public and “their” politicians believe that the entertainment industry is on the verge of collapse, they’ll be much more likely to accept restrictions on use of content that they’ve paid for. For this reason, most industry talking heads keep their comments in check when talking about DRM schemes, but from time to time we’ve seen people truly speak their mind. Such is the case with Tommi KyyrŠ, of IFPI Finland. Mr. KyyrŠ told Tietokone (Finnish) that the ability to play CDs on computers is a “privilege,” and that people who have problems with CDs laden with DRM should just buy new CD players.

“Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos,” said KyyrŠ. “If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player.” (Translation via tigert.com)

The comments come in the context of a debate over copy-protected CDs. As we have previously reported, CDs with copy protection do not play on all CD players, although this is certainly not just limited to computer CD players. Some older players also won’t play the discs, either.

There’s also this:

I recently bought a car. In the copious documentation that came with it, nowhere did it say I couldn’t drive the car only in reverse, on dirt roads, without pants, or on Wednesdays. As far as I can tell, I can do pretty much whatever I want with that car, and the people that sold it to me don’t have any say in the matter. Apparently any music I buy might not play by the same rules, with the head of the Finnish branch of the IFPI (the international equivalent of the RIAA) having labeled the ability to listen to music on a computer a privilege. So I need some sort of permission or approval to use something I’ve purchased however I like, in this case, listen to music on the device of my choice? That’s the point of DRM and copy protection, to give the content producer an inordinate amount of control. But the effect of these pointless restrictions on music isn’t that they stop file-sharing, far from it. It’s really the opposite — they encourage it. The IFPI and its friends look at the problem from the wrong side. People have minimal incentive to buy expensive, DRM-laden music when they can get unrestricted versions through file-sharing. Instead of improving their product to make it competitive, the labels hope to club people into buying it by eliminating any alternatives.

When you buy DRM music — either from iTunes, or even “locked” CDs like the Velvet Revolver release — you’re buying into this conversion. Don’t support this tomfoolery.