Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I've found myself using my PC for a lot of conversations lately, and I'm also considering recording a podcast to share with anyone who will listen. There are tons of USB headset / microphones out there, and I'm hoping someone has some solid recommendations based on experience. I'll consider both headsets and standalone mics, by the way, but I'd like to keep the bill under $100 if possible. Help!"
The only side of the new deal ("Costs more, does less.") that the consumer can attack (if they don't want to boycott the content) is the "does less" part (ie. copy control). Make their relationship with the producer hostile enough and they will attack it.
The more different technologies the content-owners heap into media technologies to control reproduction, the larger the population of dissatisfied consumers will grow. Eventually, the population will reach a critical size, where both the dissatisfaction is great enough and the skill-set of the consumer population is broad enough to make cracking the protection an attractive and practical proposition.
By making their format less consumer friendly (macrovision, region locks), industry is increasing the pressure to break copy-protection, thereby hastening it's failure.
Good plan, guys.