Is DRM free really that much of an issue any more? It's an inconvenient, but not insurmountable problem for consumers. I think coders have solved for this issue, no?
This was demonstrated oh-so-nicely by the ironically named PlaysForSure DRM scheme.
I don't give a damn about rental content having DRM[1] since I can't even pretend to own it, but what's bought to own needs to work. It needs to work today, it needs to work next week, and it needs to work in ten years. If I lose the file that's on me (just as if I lost the physical disk), but someone taking a server offline can't prevent me from using my media.
When that changes, I'll start buying content again. Last time I bought a movie was in 2005, and that was on DVD. I started buying music again when iTunes went DRM-free, and I'll happily do the same for movies too. Likewise on video games - anything with serious DRM (SecuROM, for example) will get no money from me.
[1] Assuming it works fine during the rental period, of course.
Do you mean that the movie industry's coders have made DRM so un-intrusive that it's no longer an issue for consumers? Many would disagree with you there.
Do you mean that "pirate" coders have been able to circumvent all existing DRM techniques, so consumers can always get DRM-free movies if they seek them out? That may be true, but it's a continuing arms race with the movie industry, so it's not an ideal solution.
(Except for the one time I tried to play DRM video on an Eyefinity display array, at which point iTunes complained it didn't support HDCP)
Edit: A good example is, that i actually have a Spotify Premium Subscription i am glad to pay (it runs on Linux, media player, iPad, Android, that's just awesome!). I also bought a lot of MP3s on Amazon and i know i will be able to listen to them whenever and whereever i want even without internet access. That's what i pay for.
All of these technologies ought to just work. But they are over-complicated and often break down even for obvious scenarios like "I want to pay to watch a movie with surround sound."
I'm pretty sure DRM was somehow to blame last night, because other videos played fine. I don't know why some iTunes downloads are worse than others but I feel like I never have problems with the SD versions.