Yes, it may well be legal to record television shows or even (in theory) to make backup copies/rips of your DVDs or CDs.

(Fair Use/Space Shifting are legal)

The problem is that the DMCA immediately annuls the fair usage provisions in copyright laws by stating that it is illegal to circumvent copy protection.

Really the copy protection they put on DVDs is so trivial that my computer can break through it given about 4-5 seconds per disc, but just by having any there at all, the mafiAA can say it is illegal for me to “space shift” the DVD to fit on my portable media player.

This is advantageous for the movie industry because they haven’t ever (and will never) stop any “piracy”, but now in theory, I have to go buy another copy from say, iTunes, at full DVD price (even though I already own the DVD) to play on my iPod.

(Which is one reason I refuse to buy iPod or Zune, Apple and MS are both in bed with the mafiAA)

Think “bread and circuses” around 400AD and what happened to society then.

Survivor, Jerry Springer, etc.

The types of stuff that attract more intelligent viewers typically deals with subject matter or production costs that are much higher, and since the audience is less susceptible to the ads, the show tends to wither and die anyway.

Hasn’t anyone noticed how much worthless, replaceable, cookie cutter programming there is on TV?

It’s all they need to do to entertain approximately, I’m gonna say, 80% of their audience, for 10% of the cost, *and* get the types that respond to the ads.

Science Fiction has always been a genre that is hard to keep on the air, and with few exceptions, these kinds of shows come and go without lasting more than a season or two.

Without a compromise somehow on this, we’re never going to get more than 1 season of a new show that we like.

The sheer arrogance and audacity of these big media companies, as well as Apple, Sony, and Microsoft, in implementing DRM is astounding.

Surely they realize that they have but a few paid engineers working for them to implement the “handcuffs” and several million hobbyists out there who re smarter than them, and will pick the lock just for the satisfaction of doing so?

Sales of Blu Ray have so far been unimpressive, and it’s kind of easy to see why.

Expect better sales when the anti-user crap is thoroughly hacked through and VLC or comething can play the discs.

I won’t have any such device in my home until then.