Will 2007 go down in history as the year when DRM (digital rights management) went down the tubes as record labels finally succumbed to declining CD sales and customer complaints and started releasing music in unprotected digital form?

There have been scores of gadget fans and music fans that have waited for this for years. They don't like being faced to purchase music and then have it only work on one device or expire sometime in the future. Customers clearly want to "buy" music and own it to use on any device they want, anywhere and at anytime. Sure, Apple Computer, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes store sells a heckuva lot of digital songs that are protected -- could they sell more with unprotected downloads, though?

The music industry may have no other choice but to release music as fully unprotected digital content that will allow consumers to use it how *they* want (imagine that) instead of being fully controlled by how the content owners want consumers to use content. You buy a song and you purchase the right from the content owner to use that material on your devices as opposed to just an iPod other digital content system. Will this happen is sales of physical media like CDs continue to fall? Will Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple have issues due to this or will both simply become conduits for buying unprotected content (just another *pipe*)?

Apple ended the day at $74.08, down 0.78 cents or 1.04%, a second day of sliding and making this week look rough for Apple. Yesterday Apple was downgraded by CitiGroup, prompting concerns about the company to quickly turn negative. And secondly, Zune is once again being touted as an iPod killer (this is starting to feel cyclical).

DailyTech has a side-by-side comparison of the two pieces of hardware, with Zune's larger screen being the most obvious edge the Microsoft product has. Wired also weighs in on the side of the iPod, pointing out that it's not as cool looking, and if people are complaining about DRM'd songs now, wait until Microsoft shows the world DRM on a digital music player. But while Zune is the upcoming product by Microsoft, Apple will be no doubt releasing new products down the road as well. Comparing future Microsoft products to existing Apple products is a bit speculative, and declaring the iPod in trouble when the Zune has yet to demonstrate whether it has any appeal is premature.

Meanwhile, Apple rumormillers are speculating on Apple flash-booting laptops. One can guess that as usual something interesting will be announced, Steve Jobs will be headlining Macworld in January, which is when a lot of new products and roadmaps will be released.