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Originally Posted by stonetools
On #1, you are talking about rare instances of stores shutting down. Actually, when stores shut down or software publishers go out of business, consumers have problems that have nothing to do with DRM. Sure DRM doesn't help, but its just one incidental concern
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What issues would a user have that's not DRM-related? Let's restrict this simply to media (videos, music, books, etc -- not software, where the lack of technical support or future updates could be a problem). Without DRM, media is media. It can be played anywhere the format is supported, and post-purchase is not tied to the store in any way. If the store that sold me the media goes out of business, my media still works. This is equivalent to a CD or paper book or DVD (but not necessarily Blu-Ray, due to the copy protection on the discs). With DRM, if the store that sold me the media goes out of business, I may or may not lose immediate access to that media (for example, music I've downloaded via Zune subscription, where the license is renewed monthly). If I don't lose access immediately, I will lose access as soon as I have to change devices (bought a new PC, new mp3 player, new ebook reader) because I no longer have the ability to authorize new devices.
And note that this doesn't even have to be the company going out of business, but simply a shift in business priorities. Amazon, Microsoft, and Adobe are still very much alive, yet any pre-Kindle ebook I bought from Amazon is dead, any pre-Zune music I bought from Microsoft is dead, and any Content Server 3 content I bought from companies that licensed Adobe's ADE content delivery system is dead even. Most folks won't even know this has happened until their media breaks, since these types of stories don't reported nearly as widely as "ZOMG, company X went out of business" stories.