Is this Digital Limitation Management run amok?

...or is it poor programming?

The ROKR phone (the one with Itunes capabilities) can only allow you to store 100 songs. This limitation is there even if competing products don't have that limitation. I really wondered why. Maybe the lead programmer had this statement in his code:

#DEFINE MAXSONGS 100

And forgot to upgrade that for the final release?

This is really a interesting case. First, it shows how artificial limits fits in the realm of DRM. I think in this case it must be more a business decision that one that pertains to digital rights. On the other hand, with the list of all other limitations that are put in these digital media products everyday, it's sometimes hard to tell.

So regarding this 100 song limitation, my only question is, will it hurt Apple as much as the ATRAC format hurt Sony? I think that customers will accept that one because of the power of Apple, the IPod and iTunes. To be continued...