Yes, I remember the "I'm not going to buy any music right now because nothing is compatible" stage well. My media experience with respect to music & movies sounds like yours. I don't buy movies anymore, but I still buy music. Mostly I use services such as spotify and netflix.
> I can't think of any precedent saying that having relatively painless DRM has resulted in better media access.
Netflix? Kindle books? Steam? Almost everyone I know uses the first two, and most don't even know there's DRM. However, if the DRM wasn't there, the studios/publishers would not have made their content available.
It's clear the studios are much more tech savvy then the music companies were, and much less likely to make the same DRM-free decision. I just don't see it happening (at least, not any in the next 5-10 years). It seems like the studios are still trying to prop up physical with UltraViolet (their attempt at DRM interoperability) rather than learning from the music industry's mistakes. They still have a chance to make it work, but it's certainly not there yet. If it fails, they are more likely to further fragment and do multiple, incompatible things rather than go DRM-free.