“DRM,” as we know, means “digital rights management,” which is the typically polysyllabic way Big Content talks about trying to control the stuff you buy from them. I say “trying,” because as we know the process is impossible and fruitless, leaving in its wake failed technology, consumer confusion, a debilitating war on its customers in the file-sharing legal imbroglio, and a lot of other annoyances.

Here’s one of the basic ones we forget: Along with being useless, DRM is expensive. Here’s a quote from a geeky but interesting story in the NYT today about those new-fangled HDMI inputs we have on the back of flat-screen TVs. As the world of HDMI connections grow (it will soon be typical for a family to need three, for cable, video-game player and Blu-ray), it turns out cost will become a factor:

“The cost of a single additional HDMI connection can be significant,” said Dan McCarron, a display product manager for JVC. Mr. McCarron said that unlike other types of connections, HDMI required a special set of microchips to enable its built-in copy protection. “In addition, there’s an HDMI licensing fee that’s paid on a per input basis,” he said.

Emphasis added! How much does a “special set of microchips” run? Hard to say:

A result is that HDTVs with the most ports are also the most expensive. Although there are a number of other factors in determining the price of a TV, it is clear that HDMI’s have an impact. A 52-inch Vizio liquid-crystal display that has four HDMI ports sells for about $2,500, equal to the price of a 47-inch JVC, a better-known brand, with only two ports.

Ouch! There’s nothing we as consumers can do about that, but the article helpfully dispenses valuable consumer advice when it comes to the cables themselves. They often don’t come with the components, and your local Best Buy staffer, if you can ever find one, will steer you away from a $20 cable to a Monster one selling for $150:

Monster Cable, the leading maker of the high-end cables, argues that the cables are worth every penny. “As HDTV displays get larger, people are positioning their flat-screens further and further away from source devices, and screen resolution and color depth can be degraded by using long lengths of low-quality HDMI cables,” said Noel Lee, the company’s founder whose title is head monster.

True? “Monster would say yes,” CNet [exec editor David] Carnoy said. “We say no.”

Mr. Conroy said there might be a “tiny difference” with $30,000 digital TV projectors or high-end receivers and speakers. “But for anything you’d buy in Best Buy, it’s definitely not worth it.”