And why exactly do we need to send someone to a "remote area" to report on conditions when there are already people in those remote locations who are quite capable of telling the story?

So true. And why would we need Woodward and Bernstein, when we could simply look at Nixon's or Deep Throat's blog?

The problem in our society is the magical age of 16, 18 and 21.

How would you prefer it done? With a law that can be flexibly applied however way a politically crusading DA wants it to be applied? Would you prefer to be forced to, instead of verifying age, verify "mental capacity", or some other inexact metric?

We have the solid limits for good reasons. It's a defence against tyranny handed down from the legal authorities. The ideal is that everyone knows exactly whether or not their behaviour is legal, so armed with a little information, they have nothing to fear from said authorities. Anything that detracts from this is, IMHO, stupid.

I'd also like to point out that having a (reasonably) developed brain, like an advanced 13 year old, does not imply the knowledge or wisdom to make certain long-term, potentially life-changing decisions. We hope that people have experienced enough of the world at 16, 18, or 21 (in conjunction with the development of mental maturity) to make these decisions. It's not perfect, but it's more perfect than the alternative.

Right, because when a company really pleads, it's representatives say "please" five times per sentence.

It's about as pleading as a company can get. They're never going to sound desperate; there might be stockholders watching. So, instead, they'll cover it up with some spin. Suddenly, it's not a plead for customers to buy from them, it's a plead for customers to make the Right Decision(tm). It is a plead nonetheless.

Personally, I think both companies are pathetic. They both engage in this kind of behaviour, and this finger-pointing simply highlights this fact. Hopefully, when next you consider buying a product from either one of them, since, as the a *ahem* great man once said:

"Openness is central because it's the foundation of choice." - Ballmer

Wait, wait, wait, so you're saying that this store combines DRM and ads? Wow!

And their range is a fraction of iTunes', which is a fraction of the pirate bay's, you say? Cool!

What's that? The store client is buggy, and there's only one type of uncommonly used proprietary format? No shit!

Oh and you say it closed down? I wonder why something like that would happen...