For the past several weeks, one of Microsoft's better-kept secrets has been sitting in my den. And I haven't even opened the box. Why? Because I don't know where to put the darn thing. But even if I did, I couldn't recommend or buy one of the forthcoming PCs based on Microsoft's new Windows XP Media Center Edition. Why? Because Redmond, trying to appease Hollywood, has burdened the machine with the Rights Management Scheme from Hell. Simply put: If you record a TV program on a Media Center PC and burn it to a DVD, that disk can only be read on the PC that burned it.
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