This should be where we're headed with DRM:

The SunnComm technology used by BMG is anything but bulletproof--simply holding down the computer's Shift key can disarm the protection on PCs--but BMG executives have said the protection is enough to dissuade many casual copiers.

Lately there have been a few CD copy protection schemes that have Windows-specific software that'll autoplay when the CD is inserted into a box running Windows. That's a good start. They're, as the quote shows, awfully easy to get around, but why press harder? As I tried to say in this post in comp.software.shareware.authors, there are only three types of people:

It seems to me, as I get ready to release my first trialware app, that
there are three kinds of potential users out there for trailware.

1.) People that are honest (or at least not up on crack site URLs)
that will pay to use your app if they like it.
2.) People that aren't going to pay for your app no matter what
happens, but might use it if they can get hold of a license code or
cracked version.
3.) People that would pay to use your application if they can't find
a cracked version or license number generator, but would use the
cracked version if they find it.
...
Naturally I'd rather everyone using the app pays -- and the people
that use cracked versions should feel HORRIBLY GUILTY (c) 2003 -- but
if they were never a source a revenue, it really doesn't matter from a
business (if not a moral) standpoint if they used the cracked version
or not.


What this trivial protection does is make the number in 3.) much smaller through a minimum of effort. Going much further than slapping something easy on top of your content to keep out essentially "lazy/uninformed pirates" is a waste of everyone's time.

I think this'll get pretty complicated in the near future as well. iTunes, eg, might start "cracking" the easy to read but slightly protected CDs and, say, rip them only at a very low bit rate -- heck maybe mono-only, etc -- for the lazy. These seemingly ineffective countermeasures are going to be practically very useful.

The bottom line is that companies shouldn't discount measures that fall short of 100% protected content. If you keep out 40% of group 3, well, you're doing awfully danged good. If you need all 100% to be profitable, well, you might just need to revisit your business model!