Many of the DRM protections are designed not to allow the user to transfer the media. Of course the difficulty for us Linux users (and don't forget Mac users either), is that many of the DRM systems work solely with Microsoft (namely WMP).
The DMCA, strangely enough, has given the right to the copyright holder to block the user's ability to use the content. As a direct result of this, if you do dodge the copyright protections (DRM etc) even legitimately as holder (not 'owner' ;)) of the material you could well be up for fines/criminal charges.
I will admit, that you as the buyer of the material have a right to feel hard done by. The fact is that the DMCA promised the destruction of copyright infringement, however since its release the release of 'cracked' and 'ripped' materials have grown exponentially. I think somewhere along the line that DMCA will be heavily altered, either to improve the users benefit to usage of protected content, or (and this is far more likely) to the negative, more restrictions more power to the copyright owners.
I must indicate to you
very strongly, that any attempt to circumvent the copyright protected material could end you up in a lot of trouble. You require to understand that when you purchased the content, you accepted its copyright.
My personal opinion on all the content that I produce is a simple one, its free. Everything that I make, tinker with, alter, patch, mash or munge will at some point be released to the world restricted only to ensure that noone else restricts it (GPL, CC and PD are the major licences I use).
Freedom-To-Tinker, one the extremely rare 'good' blogs that I read.
