Your very own virtual tunes

The idea is that we keep our music in a "central" virtual "CD case" on the Internet, rather than in a music player or case we carry around. Michael Robertson, founder of Oboe, one of these Web-based music "lockers," told CNET it's like the difference between "carrying around a pocketful of nickels" instead of accessing your money anywhere with a debit card. But "the concept isn't quite as simple as those trying to sell it might like. Music wrapped in certain types of digital rights management (DRM) technology - such as Apple Computer's Fairplay - can't be streamed from these lockers. Neither can tethered downloads acquired from subscription music services like Napster or Rhapsody," CNET adds. It mentions another music-locker company, Navio, that has deals with content companies (Sony, Fox Sports, Disney) that allow people basically to buy the rights to a song or program rather than the content itself. So the consumer "can get a new version of the still-copy-protected song [and play it on a player that recognizes different DRM] without having to repurchase it."