Bill Gates: “CDs pwn DRM”

You know the online music business is in trouble when one of its biggest supporters — let alone the biggest geek in the known universe — is pretty much saying that DRM tunes sux0rs, so to speak. Bill Gates and the rest of the Microsoft crew got together with a bunch of bloggers at their Redmond, Washington office to discuss the future of DRM, and in his royal Windows-maker’s own words, DRM “causes too much pain for legitimate buyers” and thus no one is satisfied with its current state.

This certainly echoes the market situation where online music sales are steadily declining, even if Apple says that everything is peachy at iTunes.

Gates says there are “huge problems”, DRM is nowhere near as flexible as it needs to be, and no one has done it right yet (Microsoft included). His proposed solution raises a few eyebrows: “People should just buy a CD and rip it. You are legal then.” My, oh my.