While I understand the need to block unauthorized playing of protected music, there must be a better way to deal with this than to have massive amounts of data potentially get deleted from an Apple TV every time a cable modem gets a hiccup and loses its Internet connection. Presumably, the better way will have to come from Apple in the form of an iTunes or Apple TV update. I have contacted Apple about all this and they intend to reply. If appropriate, I'll include their response either in an update to this column or in next week's column.

In the meantime, the only effective solution I can suggest is to pay to have all of your music upgraded to the DRM-free iTunes Plus version. I understand that this will not be a welcome solution for many people.

A final note: As annoying as this problem can be, there's one that's even worse: All of the data on your Apple TV could get deleted. After copying it back at the next sync, it may get deleted again a few weeks later. According to an , Apple Geniuses have confirmed that this is a known problem. The cause is a corrupted Apple TV drive. The hopeful solution is to . If that fails to work, the drive is apparently beyond fixing. It's time to get an new Apple TV.