DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys:

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.

Hmmm, didn’t Microsoft launch the (in)famous “PlayForSure” DRM initiative a few years ago? then launched their Zune player along with the ZuneStore, which sold music which DRM were NOT compatible with PlayForSure players? And vice versa?
You see, this is the evil of DRMs: they work only as long as the vendor is happy with their solution… as soon as they a) go down the drain or b) decided they want to change their scheme (as is the case with MSN Music), the users are screwed. Like in really screwed.
Of course, Apple’s iTunes DRM are no better, so I hope the music Majors stop trying to kill iTunes and allow Apple to sell as much DRM-free tracks as they do with, say, Amazon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 07:31 CEST and is filed under Music, Spot the Idiot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.