But it gets worse. If you rip your own CDs, WiMP11 will take your rights away too. If the ‘Copy protect music’ option is turned on, well, I can’t top their 1984 wording. “If the file is a song you ripped from a CD with the Copy protect music option turned on, you might be able to restore your usage rights by playing the file. You will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of times.” This says to me it will keep track of your ripping externally, and remove your rights whether or not you ask it to. Can you think of a reason you would need to connect to MS for permission to play the songs you ripped from you own CDs? How long do you think it will be before a service pack, masquerading as a ‘critical security patch’ takes away the optional part of the ‘copy protection’? Now do you understand why they have been testing the waters on WiMP phoning home? Think their firewall will stop it even if you ask? [Link]

So, um… turn that “Copy protect music” option off, I guess. Why would anybody want that in the first place?

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