DRM - what exactly are the "rules"?

Question

Had been using Itunes as it had the greatest selection on kids songs. Then would burn the CD and re-rip the songs to put on a Fischer Price kid-tough mp3 player (for a 4 year old). However sometimes on wma the songs will turn orange and say not permitted, but not all do?

Also sometimes Itunes will give me errors on CD's Ive ripped there, saying it cant find "the source" so wont play the file. Even when its a CD I bought.

I poked around on Itunes and wma help, but that was useless. Wondering what exactly is built in these programs. And frustrated of buying music I cant copy for my own use on multiple devices.

*Read about itunes charging 30 cents more for songs without DRM also

Answer 1

"The rules" are whatever the copyright holders and/or the distributors decide, re-decide, change their minds on, and decide again. There are NO set rules. iTunes could decide that every song is only allowed to play on your computer tomorrow - and except for a few programmers who know how to circumvent the technology - you could be screwed.

I'll never use iTunes. Ever.

A good alternative is to buy music online oversees. They charge 15 cents a song, true mp3 technology and contain no DRM.