For me Steam is like the opposite of DRM. DRM means I have to hold onto original media and often books/keys whatever. I lost my original disk to Civ IV and ended up buying it again on Steam when they had a $15 for Civ IV Complete sale (I wanted to try Colonization anyway... ). I know that DRM is *meant* to protect against piracy, and I guess Steam is a form of DRM. But for me Steam means no trips to retailers (and unfortunately, there haven't been software stores around here since well before Steam, so it's either big box stores or like Game Stop which seems to have gone away from PC games anyway), better prices, and access to my games no matter how many times I have to reinstall or switch machines. So yeah... I don't really understand the vitriol for Steam. I would be reluctant to buy a game any other way these days...