I personally have never really had a problem in finding ways to accomplish what I wanted regardless of copy protection. I do know of several instances where copy protection software has caused problems with legitimate use of games, dvds, and music cds. I think copy protection software offers little to no protection against copying but instead causes a wide array of problems for legitimate users.
I have never used iTunes or any other online music store. I can’t really say for sure what these stores offer and whether or not it is sufficient for the users.
I would say they are justified, but not effective. I’ve never seen or heard of a truly successful implementation of copy protection software. I think the industry on the whole should look deeper into the open source movement, if this is really such a big cut into profits. Using software that creates problems or simply stops your code from working at all on certain machines is not beneficial to legitimate users who have purchased your software. This will inevitably hurt sales and profits if done on a regular basis.
