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Take content protection, Windows 7’s copy-protection initiative for so-called premium content like high-definition movies from Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. According to Microsoft’s standards, software and hardware manufacturers are supposed to disable “premium content” across all interfaces that don’t provide copy protection. One such interface is the S/PDIF digital audio port — usually in the form of a TOSlink optical plug — that comes on most high-end audio cards. Since S/PDIF doesn’t support copy protection — meaning that you could theoretically plug it into another PC and rip the soundtrack off an HD movie — Windows 7 requires that your TOSlink plug be disabled whenever you play back that HD movie on your PC. As a result, you’ll only be able to use your analog audio outputs when watching HD content, and that expensive sound card you just bought is now trash. Why would Microsoft hobble an important feature? For you, the consumer? Of course not. Windows 7’s content-protection feature is intended to appease piracy-wary movie studios, so Microsoft won’t be left behind as the home theater industry finds new ways to rake in cash. And ironically, Microsoft boasts content protection as a feature of Windows 7.
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David A. Karp (Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions)