no, they don't need it anymore. in the beginning, they did though. its what helped tied people to iTunes and iPod. but now that both are leaders they don't need it. they can get rid of it altogether rather than license it out. even better.
IMO DRM makes you rent the music since they control how many times you can burn it... I paid for it I should be able to use it as I please just as if it were a cd! Seriously though its just like windows I am renting it to use on 1 computer if I want it on more than one computer I have to jump through hoops to get it to work and even then its illegal! Crap its like any software with a cd key!