Posted on 04/24/2008 8:39:11 AM PDT by steve-b
Remember a few years back when Microsoft launched a new type of DRM under the name "PlaysForSure"? The idea was to create a standard DRM that a bunch of different online music download stores could use, and which makers of digital music devices could build for. Except... like any DRM, it had its problems. And, like any DRM, its real purpose was to take away features, not add them, making all of the content hindered by it less valuable. Yet, because Microsoft was behind it, many people assumed that at least Microsoft would keep supporting it. Well, you've now learned your lesson. Playsforsure was so bad that Microsoft didn't even use it for its own Zune digital media device. Along with that, Microsoft shut down its failed online music store, and now for the kicker, it's telling anyone who was suckered into buying that DRM'd content that it's about to nuke the DRM approval servers that let you transfer the music to new machines. That means you need to authorize any songs you have on whatever machine you want -- and that's the only place they'll be able to reside forever. And, of course, any upgrade to your operating system (say from XP to Vista) and you lose access to your music as well. By now, hopefully, everyone is aware of why DRM is problematic, but it's nice of Microsoft to give one final demonstration by basically taking away more rights for the music it sold people with the promise that Microsoft would keep the music available.
This is why I didn’t buy a Zune, because who knows what problems will develop in the future.
I bought a iPod because I have more protected files with the iTunes store. Not to mention, protected files are transferable to five computers, and your iPod alllows for the easy transfer of protected iTunes music/video files to other computer. Plus, its DRM system is less problematic than Microsoft’s. Although for some odd reason, it doesn’t allow you to use your iPod to transfer other songs on your iPod.
The best place to buy music legally is now Amazon.com MP3 Download store. No DRM restrictions there.
Exactly. I will not buy content with DRM period. End of story.
Mark
Paying for DRM content is insane. Just buy the CD and rip it, then it’s yours forever.
I like Napster - 192 kbps WMAs sound great. And when you purchase them they ARE locked with DRM, but Daniusoft’s WMA to MP3 (or any other format - including WMA) nicely removes ALL DRM from the file.
Considering their history of lies, theft and fraud, if you trusted Microsoft you deserve what happens to you.
For those stuck with PlaysForSure DRM’d music, SoundTaxi is available online and it will remove the DRM so you can actually continue to use your music. I think it is 15 dollars US.
I have also switched to purchasing music online from Amazon because they do not use DRM and their downloads are not 128kbs , which to me sounds thin, but rather are generally a minimum of 256kbs which is near CD quality.
Indeed.
Me and my 40Gb Creative Zen Jukebox are sitting here laaaffing....oh how we laugh.
I still like cheap. I use MP3va.com.
As for legal? Who can say?. It's not breaking any US laws that I've read.
One 32 gig SC chip. All music whenever I want.
Can’t wait for the 32 gig microSD’s to consoludate the ones I use on my phone for music playing in the car.
Yes, but. The problem there is the albums that only have two or three songs worth having. Before the digital music came along, the record companies' main MO on most albums was to market two good songs on an album, fill the rest with filler, charge $16.00 for the CD and laugh at the consumers. Kind of like Microsoft is doing to its Playforsure customers right now.
Note, you're breaking a federal law when you do that, as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act expressly precludes defeating DRM, regardless of whether you bought the song.
Yet another stupid nanny state law that deserves to be broken.
You pay for it one way or the other. Get the CD and it's yours - warts and all, purchase the individual song and it's locked up like it's still theirs. The third option is always available, and quite frankly, I don't have much sympaty for the music industry in regards to it.
I wouldn’t laugh so too hard least you make a fool of yourself. Microsoft sent out email to all accounts telling them to burn the music to a CD, which will remove the DRM. Users can then rip the music to any machine they desire. Here is the email:
MSN Music is constantly striving to provide you, our user, with the most compelling music experience that we can. We want to tell you about an upcoming change to our support service to ensure you have a seamless experience with the music you’ve downloaded from MSN Music.
As you may recall from a November 14, 2006 mail, we entered into a new partnership for music downloads. The Zune Marketplace can be accessed directly from any MSN Music artist page and offers users thousands of tracks for users to download individually or with a season pass subscription. You can still come to MSN Music to find all the latest news and previews of your favorite artists and songs, but in order to buy music, we’ll take you to our partners at the Zune Marketplace.
With the launch of our partnership with Zune Marketplace, we closed the MSN Music store and stopped selling music directly from MSN Music. However, we have continued to offer assistance and support for existing songs that you’ve purchased from MSN Music, including help to transfer songs that you’ve purchased to additional computers and MSN Music compatible devices.
I am writing to let you know that as of August 31, 2008, Microsoft will change the level of support to be offered for music purchased directly from MSN Music prior to November 14, 2006. 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. License keys already obtained as of August 31, 2008 will continue to allow you to listen to songs on all the computers that you previously authorized for service.
We wanted to send out this notification well in advance to remind you to backup your music and to provide you sufficient time to confirm license keys for the songs you’ve purchased from MSN Music.
This is also a good time to remind you that you can back up and secure your music by burning your purchased songs and playlists to CD. With Windows Media Player, you can burn your own Audio CDs from the music stored in your library. Complete instructions for this can be found at MSN Music online help.
Please take this opportunity to make sure you have the licenses you need to access your music. As a friendly reminder, please remember that the MSN Music service allows you to authorize up to 5 computers for songs purchased from MSN Music. You must have licenses for the songs on each authorized computer, in order to be able to play the songs successfully. If you have already played a given song on a computer, then you have successfully obtained the license key for that song. MSN Music keys do not expire. If you intend to transfer a previously downloaded song to a new computer (or an existing computer with a new operating system, such as an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista) within the maximum allowed limit of 5 computers, please do so before August 31, 2008. 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.
If you have additional questions about this process or any other questions about playing your music, please visit MSN Music online help for more information or feel free to contact our Technical Support representatives for assistance, prior to the August 31, 2007 date.
I’d like to personally thank you for your continued support of MSN Music and encourage you to send us your feedback and suggestions about how we can continue to improve the MSN Music experience.
Sincerely,
Rob Bennett
General Manager, MSN Entertainment & Video Services
Indeed.
You do realize, don't you, that converting from one lossy compression type to cd format and then back to another lossy compression type (mp3 or whatever) entails a loss of fidelity and audible artifacting?
This is just another example of Microsoft screwing both its customers and the partners who signed on to the "Plays for sure" (so freaking ironic in light of this article!).
People forget that when you play with microsoft you always end up geting burned.
The DMCA is federal law, and no mere purveyor of protected works has the authority to cast off responsibility for circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to works such seller may be involved in distributing.
Incitement of us peons to circumvent DMCA provisions, e.g., your "[B]urn[] your purchased songs and playlists to CD" must surely be associated an iron-clad "Get Out of Jail Free" card, lest rightsholder-campaign-contribution-supported prosecutors not be able to restrain themselves, seeing anything less than a tall stack of signed, written okie-dokies from each individual copyright owner--scarce as hen's teeth, I'm told--whose works have been so copied to CD per Bennett's instructions.
By the way, do we know that Bennett's instructions toward CD copying of such protected works are meant to preclude copying to DVD, other media, capture via means that are either dependent on or independent of acoustical methods, or capture to standards other than Red Book?
HF
“The DMCA is federal law, and no mere purveyor of protected works has the authority to cast off responsibility for circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to works such seller may be involved in distributing.”
I totally agree.
This DRM stuff has become a mess. On one hand, originating artists deserve copyright protections, and, on the other, purchasers of their art deserve to get what they pay for. So far, no one has found a practical solution to copyright infringement.
My basic solution is as Amazon and others are doing and that is to make music and other works of art easy enough and cheap enough to purchase and make the whole process hassle free as possible. All the other problems like peer-to-peer are something for law enforcement to enforce and in the infomration age that is nearly impossible to do.
“entails a loss of fidelity and audible artifacting?”
Sure, but at 256k that loss is so limited as to not be of any use, not to mention many people use far less than 256k. (I’m an audio/video processing specialist who writes such software for cable companies and video surveillance systems.)
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