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here's first, I'm going to agree with Aquinasfan. You're arguement is beyond rediculous. You're basically saying "if you don't want your property stolen don't own anything worth steeling".

In this modern age it's physically impossible to NOT store intellectual property (no quotes it's a real thing no matter how little you respect it) in 1's and 0's. And what few storage mediums there are that aren't 1's and 0's are still machine readable (video capture, input jacks on sound cards, scanners and OCR software).

The RIAA has done some bizaare stuff, no arguement there. But the simple fact is that making and dsitributing copies of copyrighted material is theft. Back in the days of cassette players the individual bootlegger wasn't a problem, they had very limited level and rate of distribution. Now with MP3s and the internet the distribution rate is limitless.

Remember making and distributing music (and movies and books and software) isn't cheap. Every CD you see in a store represents hundreds of man hours of labor on thousands of dollars worth of equipment. If MP3 junkies do manage to accomplish their dream of breaking the RIAA's back you're not going to wind up in a world with free music, you're going to wind up in a world without music (at least printed, you'll still have plenty of bar bands). Without the RIAA or some group like it being a musician doesn't pay the bills. If you can't sell the product, if you can't advertise it, if you can't use these channels to advertise the tour (which is where the real money has always been) there's no way to make music self sustaining. You need companies willing to front the costs, and they need copyright protection.

"You need companies willing to front the costs, and they need copyright protection."

That may be true, but why should that imply though-crime laws like the DMCA or invidious chips like Fritz? I don't want this in my computer, and won't buy it if I can avoid it. Short of a law making it mandatory, I can't think of any consumer, or anyone who has the smallest care for their own privacy, who would buy this. Which indicates this is the wrong approach.

At best this is a poison chalice Microsoft will drink deeply from. At worst, this is the end of PCs their owners can actually control and keep secure form external inspection.

Good businesses will stay in business period. M$ operating systems and software are unarguably the most pirated products on the face of the planet yet they are the richest and most profitable company in the world. Why? Because they run a good business and generate demand for their products. If the RIAA wants to rally the wagons and try to stop the progression of technology to the level of the 80's, then they deserve whatever they get. Remember, the idea if intellectual properties is a compromise between the people and businesses; the people will grant the businesses the exclusive rights to a particular work in return for future inovations. The RIAA has found it easier to twist the law in their favor rather than meet consumer demand which dictates small, versatile, and portable listening. If their business methods suck, they have no rights to create laws to protect their flawed business strategies.
Lastly, for pete's sake this is America, land of the free. Whenever it gets to the point of a police state and we need Fritz and his clones on every corner to dictate to us exactly how to live our lives and throw us in the gulags when we make the slightest mistake, we might as well live in a oligarchy. I thought one of the reasons we fougth the revolutionary war was to keep the government and it's soldiers out of our homes....