morning runner/the fallout trust - unlistenable.

folks. while a lot of the music i rate is from the smaller labels, i have no problems at all with major label releases. in fact, in 2005 most of my faves were actually on the big labels. so i count myself rather chuffed to be in receipt of emi product. of all the majors i reckopn emi are worthy of love, whether its the main label or their imprints like parlophone and regal. however, in recent weeks i have noticed something a little more unpleasant. 2 new indie hopefuls have dropped through the letterbox : the fallout trust, and morning runner. both bands are signed to newly created emi imprints ('at large recordings', and 'faith & hope') with lots of attention to detail like the packaging and presentation. of course, these bands are an easy target to lay into as they are designed to appeal to a lazy indie demographic (bit of radiohead, a chunk of keane and a slice of coldplay), but i'm not about that. the problem for me is i cant actually listen to the albums. both albums are so heavily drm'd that they are not recognised as audio cds by anything like a computer. in order to listen via all this new technology you have to install all manner of gubbins, sign an eye straining agreement (it's pages and pages long), and even then the music will not transfer to my sony flash player (not sure re ipods, but all ok with creative machines)and will only be available to be heard via their player and/or windows media player. now, as my listening habits revolve around that lovely sony branded gadget, then basically it renders these albums as worthless. so, are the bands (both new - and supposedly rather keen on getting heard/reviewed), aware of this situation ? i will try to find out. mark e ireallylovemusic