WMP 10 Acquire License Automatically

[rwinegar]

Can someone please enlighten me on this feature of WMP 10?

Everything I read put out by Microsoft tries to convince me that this is for my benefit. But I get a very uncomfortable feeling when I stream a video clip and up pops a window telling me that my browser settings have been reset. It looks like some website might be installing something in my computer. I do not feel good about this feature. For the time being I have disabled this feature. Are my fears justified or is this feature harmless?

Thanks.

[Ridgerunr]

Just my opinion,but in every version of WMP since 7.0,I have disabled/shutdown everything and anything that wants to send 'any' kind of info to the internet whether to M$ or whomever concerning DRM or anything else. The word 'privacy' has gotten to be almost a joke of late,but I intend to do whatever possible to keep information concerning myself,my music/video as private as possible.
The only feature I use in media player for my personal media is the 'playlist'. I drag n' drop songs to it from 'my' folders and never use the 'library' or 'media center' functions. If I get a popup when trying to play something online telling me IE can 'play this for me', I tell it 'NO' and let it play in the regular media player window.
Call it paranoia if you like,but unlike the 'other' ants,I don't play follow-the-leader...

[rwinegar]

Ridgrunr I agree with everything you say and your practices pretty much parallel mine. But can you tell me anything about this "automatically acquire license" thing that is new in WMP10?

[SuperSparks]

It was in WMP9 as well. You can just turn it off in the Tools>Options>Privacy tab by unchecking "Aquire licenses automatically for protected content".

[rwinegar]

In my original post I stated that I did disable this feature.

I am wondering what is it's function and what, if any, benefit is to be derived by leaving it enabled?

[SuperSparks]

Here's a pretty good explanation of how it all works:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Ar...477138,00.html

[rwinegar]

Thanks SuperSparks, but that doesn't appear to address the "automatically acquire license" feature. When I have this feature enabled and stream certain video files I get a message that my browser settings have been reset. This is scary! Then when I exit WMP I am asked if I want to back up my license.

I don't trust this a single bit, but maybe my mistrust is misguided. Microsoft has some info out on this feature, but none of it makes much sense to me.