<![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> If there were ever a time to blame the victim, this is it.

cerbie

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> "change the level of support" indeed. The PR stink on this letter is sickening. It's just amazing that that letter is 95% marketing and only 5% explaining the problem, and even that 5% is written so that it sounds "super!". I know PR people exist specifically to spin things like this in as positive a manner as possible, but this is just absurd. If you're writing me to tell me I'm SOL, get to the point!

And yeah, the licenses don't expire, but the computer using them does -- maybe the solution is to never upgrade Windows again... hmm...

thomas_callahan

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> This is what I have been saying about DRM, what happens when the key servers finally go dark on a service?

CyberSkull

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> hee hee - this is hilarious, only because I've never purchased any MS-tainted audio files myself... they are, in effect, saying: "Well, if you haven't stolen this music yet (by burning and re-ripping) you now HAVE TO or else you'll lose it forever." HAW HAW.

Like many other commenters on this thread, if there is any music out there I plan on playing through a real stereo at some point (car, PC, living room) I buy the real thing - mp3s are garbage comparatively. Someday the bandwidth will exist to sell AACs or FLACs online, but until then the "online music" revolution is really just more of a fad...

trustsatan

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> That's why I don't buy lossy, locked down digital files. Those of you that do should probably take this as an important warning. What happens with Apple decides that the iTunes music store is no longer viable.
(Disclaimer: I've used Apple products for my entire life, so I know a thing or two about getting your support dropped for no reason).

trujunglist

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> Dawnrazor +1

All of my music (aside from fan-made remixes) comes from CDs that I have purchased and ripped and encoded to whatever digital format I like. When the day comes that they stop pressing music CDs, they'd best the hell release the ISOs, or my music purchasing will come to an end.

yagisencho

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> Amazon has DRM-free mass-market music in their music store. For those of you who find mainstream music boring, there's also the DRM-free podsafe music network.

Prolific Programmer

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> There is a tool to rip the DRM off of WIndows DRM'd files. It's called FairUse4WM. Go Google it and you'll be able to find it. It only works on files that are currently licensed to the computer you're trying to un-DRM them on.

crichton007

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @Balisong: Anything you ever do with music is illegal. Except paying for it. You can always pay but anything else is illegal.

lemur

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> Yes, yes... you can burn the songs to CD and then rerip them into DRM-free MP3s if you really want to. However, the audio file was lossy compressed when you first downloaded it. "Lossy" meaning that parts of the sound was discarded when it was encoded. If you rip and recompress the song again (especially with a different file format), *more* parts of the sound are discarded.

Which, I guess is fine--if you don't mind paying for FM-radio quality music. I personally just refuse to buy DRM laden music. I rip my own CDs into lossless FLACs.

ShortBus

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> First Sony then Microsoft.
At least Sony offered a work around, although it was a PITA one. (burn a cd then rip mp3s off of that, though soft ware to batch convert their DRM stuff back to mp3 would have been nice)

Do the poor PlayForSure souls even have that option?

Randomeis

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> I don't know for sure, but you could probably "burn" your music to an ISO file and save yourself the CD.

jimv2000

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> ...and that's why you don't buy DRMed media. Encrypted media (DVD/Bluray) is bad enough.

mavrc

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> But didn't the RIAA just tell us that burning music to a CD is illegal?

...

Balisong

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> My music, my equipment, my process.

Why is it that anything having to do with music, be it ticket sales or music downloads, has "screw the consumer" as part of its business model?

Mr. Gunn

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @Skeptic: They could say, Hey with it being the week of Earth Day and all, we at Microsoft decided that this was for the best! Think of all the energy we'll save.

rickhamilton620

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]>

'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

I've got a suggestion. How about you don't turn off the servers!!! Like Microsoft can't afford them.

How can MS be this stupid?

It looks like we need a law that says if they turn of the DRM key servers that they should have to provide a way to permanently remove the DRM.

Skeptic

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> This is EXACTLY why there will always be a place for physical media. Up to this point, I have never downloaded (legally or otherwise) any of my music, and this story reinforces this practice. When I plop a physical CD on the tray and press "Play" I have no hassles, waiting, DRM issues, system crashes, or other such nonsense to interfere with my musical enjoyment. Sure, I use (and love) an iPOD, but ALL my music is ripped from CDs; I pay about the same for the CD as I would downloading the album, and receive the following benefits (vs. downloading): tangible, permenant storage for the music which is MUCH more reliable than a HD (I have CDs from 1984 which play with no problems in any player-how many HDs from 1984 do you imagine still work?), artwork/liner notes/artwork on disc itself, MUCH better sound (until someone starts offering uncompressed 14/44 or 24/96 downloads), and no stupid restrictions regarding hardware "authorization" or other such nonsense.

I think some people are under the impression that one cannot fully dive into the world of computer audio unless they participate in iTunes/MSN Music/Napster/Etc., but this is simply not true and one can get much better performance (in terms of sound quality) by ripping from CDs at a higher bit rate than what the download services offer (usually a paltry 128kbps-such a ripoff when you consider that the uncompressed CD costs roughly the same, gives you something tangible, and has no idiotic restrictions on how/when it can be played (the Sony rootkit debacle a few years back notwithstanding)-really, the music buying public is being sold a bill of goods by MS, Apple, Napster, etc.).

Dawnrazor

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @Victo:

I believe burning music to a CD, then pulling it of, will remove the DRM if it is locked.
Also, the iTunes Plus catalog is now the largest DRM-free catalog in the world. As with the format, you might want to convert your music to AAC, as it's better than the MP3 format. As for noticing any difference, I've never tested it, as my ears ain't that good. Apple does have iTunes for both Mac & PC & if you don't like it, thats fine, try something else.


dix99

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> oops sorry Diet-Orange-Soda, I thought you said "... physical media does" as in it gets DRM.

my bad :)

rickhamilton620

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> DRM = BAD!

Maybe now people will wake up & look around.

Of course I'm assuming that people actually bought music from MSN.

Jaysyn

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @Diet-Orange-Soda: Actually, Sony got in trouble for adding DRM to it's music cd's after the program installed rootkits on people's computers: [en.wikipedia.org]

rickhamilton620

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> so* bad.

GotanOrange

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @Diet-Orange-Soda: Or better yet, buy the CD or vinyl. I will cry the day physical media dies.

Diet-Orange-Soda

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @omerhi: I avoid DRM as much as possible. Only when there are no alternatives (Xbox Live Arcade) and only when my willpower is nil (Xbox Live Arcade) do I open my wallet for DRM-laden content.

In the case of music, buy from Amazon or someplace else that sells DRM-free MP3s.

Diet-Orange-Soda

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @dix99: You can put DMR free mp3s on iPod.

Victo

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @omerhi: Ruckus is even worse... You can only listen to it for 30 days. Want to copy it to your music player? It better be approved by them, as they insist on you using a player that will also time out after 30 days.

FairUse4WMA FTW.

FLConsumer

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> I hate DMR.

I find it's cheaper, in the long run, to buy CDs or DMR-free music.

No wonder pirating flourishes. Why pay and go through a lot of hassle, when you can get hassle-free music for ''free''.

By the way, in Canada, we already paying a tax on mp3 players/CD-ROMS to ''compensate'' industry losses due to pirating. Another idiotic idea, that just penalizes honest people, who pay twice to listen to their music.

Victo

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> And the MS users listened to everything they told & sold them & they followed. All because they would NEVER be an iPod, or Mac user. How many times does MS have to abuse it's customers, before people catch on. I for one have found other alternatives to their products, so now I don't use them. It's up to you to make sure you don't get burned again.

dix99

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> How does microsoft manage to continually fuck themselves to bad?

GotanOrange

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> THIS is the absolute bullshit that is DRM. Sure, you can use music you've purchased, but only on things we tell you you can use it on, only in a specific number of places, oh and we may, at any time, pull the plug and leave you twisting in the damn wind. But hey, we're giving you plenty of notice we're going to take you in the ass.

Any mild compulsion I may have ever had to buy music from a DRM-laden company has long since gone out the window. I will not live under some company's mandated fiat.

hubris

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> They could have condensed that entire letter into just a couple of words. Probably something with "screwed" and "sucker".

scoobydoo

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @RandoX: At that point your compressed music has just been re-compressed, making it even more lossy than before.

Diet-Orange-Soda

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> @AustinTXProgrammer: Still using it here to pillage, er, download albums by the dozens from Ruckus. Works like a charm.

FLConsumer

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> Does FairUse4WMA still work?

AustinTXProgrammer

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> "Seamless experience"... Oh yeah, there will be one seam, and that's where you have to burn all your music and re-rip it. Because if you don't, you could lose it all. Other than that, seamless.

RandoX

]]> <![CDATA[Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs]]> I actually want some wide-spread DRM failure to make people realize it's a bad idea. I don't think the general public are aware that a company can just pull the plug like this.

Diet-Orange-Soda

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