> Yes, some *companies* do this. And there are laws to prevent it. What
> I'm saying is that some random dude on the street isn't going to do
> this. It's far too expensive, for a start.

OK I understand your point.

> No. I mean that it only takes one single person to work out how to
> defeat DRM (which will happen with probability 1), and your system is
> broken. You no longer have control over what people do with your data.

But the DRM is not useless in that situation, as not everyone knows how 
to find illegal copies.

> (More to the point, with current DRM systems, it's actually *easier* to
> use the cracked content than the genuine article. Incentive to pay, much?)

A good example is the adverts before a film on a DVD that you are forced 
to watch.  A cracked copy will usually cut out the adverts, and some 
people would say it is doing no harm by doing that themselves for their 
own personal use.  But, the fact that the adverts cannot be skipped is 
actually creating income for the publisher, without them they'd need to 
charge more for the DVD in the first place.

> Emphasis "yet"...

I don't see the channels used for pirate content becoming any more 
mainstream, you still need to be "in the know" to find where to get such 
stuff, and there's always the risk you'll get caught and sent a fine 
and/or blocked by your ISP.  And the more popular such places become, 
the more likely they are to get shut down.

> As for making money out of digital content... well, I *hope* it
> continues to be viable, but I'm not optimistic unless a "solution" can
> be arrived at.

As of today DRM is apparently the best solution.

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