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Archive for April, 2008

How to turn user indifference into user anger

When Google turned off Google video, they gave their users credits for the videos that they had purchased. Sure, a lot of them were annoyed, but there weren’t that many paying customers in the first place (hence the shuttering). Now MS is following suit, but has no “upgrade” path for customers of its Plays For Sure technology. Again, this wasn’t a successful service (obviously), but what would happen if a bigger DRM-house closed down. You’d see class action lawsuits and bills introduced in congress right-quick. If content providers insist on DRM then content providers must make provisions in their contract for support of their customers for a long, long time. It’s not just the users that should sue Microsoft (per se), it’s the record labels and the artists. Otherwise, users will start to distrust the digital stores and they will go straight (back?) to piracy.

DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys (Ars Technica)

Customers who have purchased music from Microsofts 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 its done supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of this summer.

[via techdirt]

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