Yeah I had the same problem with the latest Ayumi 
album. I couldnt get em to rip to upload em in my 
mp3 player. It took a little while and 
frustration but I found a program that was able 
to rip em. 
In short dont worry to much about that kind of 
stuff, as soon as a new protection method comes 
out it only takes a couple weeks for someone to 
build a work around.
BTW anyone here live in Japan? Or specifically 
Okinawa?
Glenn