Another example of DRM screwing customers: Microsoft nukes MSN Music keys

[motivez]

Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft's now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never anticipated making: commit to which computers (and OS) they want to authorize forever, or give up access to the music they paid for. Why? Because Microsoft has decided that it's done supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of this summer.

MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31. "As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers," reads the e-mail seen by Ars. "You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play."

This doesn't just apply to the five different computers that PlaysForSure allows users to authorize, it also applies to operating systems on the same machine (users need to reauthorize a machine after they upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example). Once September rolls around, users are committed to whatever five machines they may have authorized—along with whatever OS they are running.

The news will likely upset a number of Microsoft's customers, who bought music from MSN Music before the company launched the Zune Marketplace and decided to ditch the old store. Microsoft's decision to turn off the MSN Music authorization servers serves as a painful reminder that DRM ultimately severely limits your rights. Companies that control various DRM schemes, as well as the content providers themselves, can yank your ability to play the content which you lawfully purchased (and now, videos) at any moment—no matter what your expectation was when you bought it. Some Major League Baseball fans learned this the hard way last fall.

Bennett insists that MSN Music keys are, in fact, not yet expiring. Technically speaking, that's true—if I authorize one of my PCs, never get rid of it for the rest of my life, and never upgrade its OS, I will be able to play my tracks forever. But as some of our readers note, this technicality is not rooted in reality—the authorizations will now expire when the computer does, for whatever reason. DRM-free music may be the new hotness these days, but people who bought music before the record industry began to see the light are still stuck with their DRMed music.

Of course, MSN Music customers do have one other option: burning all of their music to audio CD and then re-ripping them back to the computer as MP3s, sans DRM. But that's a lossy, lousy solution.

DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys

So, people who bought music legally will be unable to upgrade OR downgrade their operating system or continue listening to their music if they buy a new computer... because Microsoft it is unwilling to continue supporting their now defunct music service, completely screwing over customers who, in good faith, purchased music legally expecting to own it and continue using it for as long as they wanted, like they would if they had purchased a CD.

Any person who wants to get a new computer will have to keep their old one running if they want to listen to their music, which is not a realistic option for most people, and IMO not a fair thing to impose on customers.

This is another example example of why I refuse to deal with companies who employ DRM, and why I haven't purchased any music from such a service.. and why I refuse to deal with Vista, considering all the DRM it has built in, and Microsoft's ability to expand the technology to limit what hardware can effectively display content I am supposed to *own*

If I own something I should be able to do what I want with it, whether it's some music, a movie, or a book.. I should never have to worry that a company can take it away from me.

I can't understand why Microsoft wouldn't simply switch the keys to work with it's new Zune store, the only thing I can come up with is inept customer relations and greed.. screwing over anyone who purchased music from them will likely ensure they're no longer a customer, meaning they will certainly lose some people as customers, but maybe they believe they'll make more money people re-purchasing the music.

I wonder if the former subscribers will have any cause for a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for this.. I can't imagine it's legal for them to essentially force you to by something twice.

[JaJae]

This is really bad. I suppose there was a protection clause within the subscription to protect Microsoft, but they really should refund all the songs or give a partial discount. That or leave the servers open, or try to transfer to license to another provider as suggested. I bet Apple would love to have MS hand over users to their iTunes. Despite the server costs, it would be a moral blow to the giant.

Something needs to be done so these people aren't completely screwed. MS is already losing face, they should at least do so while taking care of their customers.

These users got their music pretty cheap though partly because this was possible. If they didn't want this to happen they could have bought the hard copy of the CD and made all the DRM-free backups they wanted. That's the risk you take, but I don't think people thought Microsoft of all companies would belly up.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

These users got their music pretty cheap though partly because this was possible. If they didn't want this to happen they could have bought the hard copy of the CD and made all the DRM-free backups they wanted. That's the risk you take, but I don't think people thought Microsoft of all companies would belly up.

I don't think that's really a fair statement, regardless of the price, once you own something, it should be yours and the people you bought it from shouldn't be able to restrict your use of it..

If I go buy a TI-89 calculator from a pawn shop, I can probably get it for 1/10th of the cost of buying one new.. I don't think the pawn shop owner should be able to prevent me from using it in new classes or install new software on it after a certain date any more than Microsoft should be legally allowed to do this to customers who bought a product in good faith.. regardless of the price.