http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/15/holy-cats-there-is-a-drm-chip-inside-the-ipod-shuffle-earbuds/
Well this one is hot off the presses, so this is not fact yet, but I feel its worth at least taking a look at. Seems Apple has included a DRM chip in the headphones of the new iPod Shuffle. So, no more playing your favorite stolen songs! Uncle Steve is watching you!
March 16th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Well guys, I hate to break it to you but all it may be is the intelligence that deciphers the timing of the button presses so that it sends only one command signal to the iPod Shuffle rather than having the chip inside the iPod itself. For example, the chip will decipher whether the user pressed the middle button twice to advance the song or twice to play/pause.