How Stupid Can You Get?

I read yesterday that Sony was going to join the DRM free MP3 fray.

I was very excited. Since Amazon started offering MP3 downloads I haven't bought any DRMed music. Since iTunes started selling Music, I've encouraged my wife to only buy music online.

Finally the king-of-DRM Sony was going to give up and start offering DRM-free music.

Then I read this.

In order to buy Sony DRM free music - wait for it - you have to go to ... A STORE.

What!?

You have to go to a store to buy a card that has a scratch-off code. You then have to scratch that code off, and then can only download one of 37 albums.

Not individual songs, just whole albums. I suppose that it reduces the environmental impact of those CDs and packaging, but really!?

How stupid can a company be? Oh well, I should have expected that with Sony.