It has been known since Roxio announced Napster 2.0 that it would use Microsoft DRM. The DRM polices appear to be fairly standard for online music services: the user must ask permission from Naspter to copy any downloaded track to another computer, the user can only copy tracks to the different computers, and the user can can only burn the same playlist five times before having to use a different playlist for at least one CD burn. However, Napster's license agreement and privacy policy fail to mention that Microsoft will be in control of the DRM process and leave open a number of questions about who will make policy decisions in the future.

In an e-mail interview a Roxio spokesperson told the GripeLog that Microsoft sets and implements all of Napster's DRM polices. Furthermore, it seems that even Roxio is not aware of what Microsoft is doing with Napster's DRM polices. When asked for example whether purchased songs are linked to individual computers by the DRM in Napster, the Roxio representative responded by saying "I do not have answers. This is all internal Microsoft information and it is not available to us either." The same answer was given as to what the response would be if a file linked to a user were to end up on a file sharing network.

So is Roxio in charge of the usage restrictions and enforcement Napster customers will see down the road, or is Microsoft? Whatever the answer to that question, it's clear we've come a long way from the Napster of old.