"remember all those songs you spent hundreds of dollars downloading off of the internet? Well get ready to do it all over again, this time, for your new big ass table."

Let me gaze into my crystal ball....... I see a lawsuit in your future......

And this is why people download illegally, because large corporations never miss an opportunity to screw you over to get more money out of you.

This is why I will never have anything to do with proprietary music formats that I can't keep forever and do with as I please.

Whelp... I'm done with the Zune store...

SushiJoe: "remember all those songs you spent hundreds of dollars downloading off of the internet? Well get ready to do it all over again, this time, for your new big ass table."

Win. Shut 'er down.

I sense more music piracy.

And these CEO's wonder why people steal music. Well too bad Pirate Bay isn't publicly traded cause their gonna get alot more business soon.

So, they haven't been selling music since '06. Why can't they just keep the authentication server running or transfer the the licenses to whatever their Zune store setup is.

I hope they lose every last Zune store customer. Every one of them would have to be retarded for making any more purchases anyways.

The whole phenomenon blows my mind - that people would actually pay money for proprietary, crippled music. It's never even occurred to me to do something like that.
Let's look at this proposition - you want to sell me something, and take my money - but you wish to reserve the right to destroy or repossess what you have sold me, at any time and for any (or no) reason, without refunding my money.
No. Off the turnip truck I did not just fall.

My grandfather's vinyl from the 50's is still 100% usable, and probably for a nickel per album too.

Fark you, Microsoft! 3-5 years later, I'm still gonna use my music.

But, but... you can trust DRM from a stable company because they won't go bankrupt and leave you with useless music files.

jso2897: The whole phenomenon blows my mind - that people would actually pay money for proprietary, crippled music.

They don't know any better. It doesn't seem like a big deal to a lot of folks. They're going to learn though, ain't they?

Plays for Shure!

Actually, to be fair, the Zune store now sells DRM free music.
Second bullet point on the official website:

DRM-free MP3s. Choose from a selection of more than 1 million DRM-free MP3s. Download to play on your Zune device or any other MP3 player.


Still, this isn't good PR for MS. Better to keep the servers up or release the DRM than to lose current customers.

"As of August 31st, 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," Microsoft said in an e-mail that was sent Tuesday to former MSN Music customers.

In other words, fark you customers. You want to listen to your music, just stop by the Zune store and download it again. We promise you'll be able to listen to it forever*!

_{*'forever' is decided by Mr. Gates and the health Microsoft's stock.}

Is it just me or has Microsoft been one huge FAIL since 2005?

FOSS. That is all.

as if there isn't a program to strip the DRM out of those files...

/laugh everytime I reimage a company computer and people complain they lost "their" music
//music is not equal to data
///nor is their porn

Software2: Actually, to be fair, the Zune store now sells DRM free music.
Second bullet point on the official website:

DRM-free MP3s. Choose from a selection of more than 1 million DRM-free MP3s. Download to play on your Zune device or any other MP3 player.


Still, this isn't good PR for MS. Better to keep the servers up or release the DRM than to lose current customers.

In the vastness of the tubes, 1 million songs is a tiny drop in the vast ocean.

Many of those songs are probably "indie" artists trying to make it into the commercial world. Bleh.

It strikes me if MS has the keys to unlock the songs that you downloaded they also have a record of who downloaded what music. Methinks that MS could, as an act of good will, give those customers who downloaded music via the MSN music service the chance to download the same songs free of charge (and free of DRM as well).

Anyone remember the first product named "DivX" ?
/Castaneda spoke truth.

"Microsoft did not provide a reason for the decision."

Hmmmm... Gee, I wonder what the reason could be?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

If you've bought music from MSN & have access to two computers:

1) Hook the audio output of the computer where the MSN music resides to the line in on another computer.

2) Download Audacity on that other computer.

3) Record the crippled music off on the Audacity-equipped computer & save as a high bitrate MP3.

4) Tell Microsoft to suck it.

Microsoft was built on a lie.

/go ahead, claim Wiki-crap. Like some trillion dollar company hasn't taken care (and applied pressure) to eliminate the negative TRUTH about their history.

RockIsDead: Microsoft was built on a lie.

Huh?

t3knomanser: RockIsDead: Microsoft was built on a lie.

Huh?

He's raging against the machine. When they do that, it's better to just let them wind down - no point reasoning with them - they get into a zone, like a berserker or something.

How expensive would it be to maintain a few servers vs the PR hit they will take from this?
A few servers vs an infinite supply of anti-microsoft DRM marketing possibilities.
It's so unbelievably stupid I don't believe it.
There must be something else going on here.

Wait... did anyone actually use the MSN music service?

GibbyTheMole: If you've bought music from MSN & have access to two computers:

1) Hook the audio output of the computer where the MSN music resides to the line in on another computer.

2) Download Audacity on that other computer.

3) Record the crippled music off on the Audacity-equipped computer & save as a high bitrate MP3.

4) Tell Microsoft to suck it.

unless you are saving in a lossless format you are losing quality this way. I know caring about quality when starting with a lossy format may seem silly to some, however many people cannot reliably differentiate between a lossless format and a lossy format of a certain quality but can do so below that quality.

Transcoding is likely to sound noticeably worse. It is similar to making a cassette copy from a cassette copy. You are guaranteed to end up with more hiss and warble.

GibbyTheMole: "Microsoft did not provide a reason for the decision."

Hmmmm... Gee, I wonder what the reason could be?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

If you've bought music from MSN & have access to two computers:

1) Hook the audio output of the computer where the MSN music resides to the line in on another computer.

2) Download Audacity on that other computer.

3) Record the crippled music off on the Audacity-equipped computer & save as a high bitrate MP3.

4) Tell Microsoft to suck it.

Gibby, you are way overthinking this. If you have the male-male audio cable for step 1, you are set to record DRMed audio into a shiny new MP3, all without downloading any new software.

Step 1) Plug cable into speaker and mic jacks.
2) Open sound recorder. (you may have to record 30 seconds of silence, and keep adding the file to a new file, until the "blank" is as long as the song you want.)
3) Play song and record in sound recorder.
4) You can either get an MP3 encoder for 128 + Kbps or use the encoder in sound recorder for 56 K mono.

It is possible to use MS software and $.99 hardware to outsmart your DRM.

december:

Yeah, I know technically you lose a certain amount of quality going to mp3. But if you save at a high bitrate like 320 kbps, it's so minimal that it's virtually undetectable.

I have a good Edirol (Roland) audio interface on my PC and a fairly good audio system (Yamaha preamp, QSC power amp, Polk speakers and a Sunfire sub) and I can't tell the difference between the original CD (or any other original source) and a 320 kbps mp3 when doing an ABX comparison.

On the other hand, I can definitely hear a difference between the original source and a cassette copy made on premium CrO2 or metal tape on my 3-head Nakamichi deck, so I know my hearing isn't totally in the crapper yet.

High bitrate mp3s sound much better than most people think. At least, when they're done correctly.

This is why people should use Open Source software. Fark this shiat.
FLAC FTW.

doglover: My grandfather's vinyl from the 50's is still 100% usable, and probably for a nickel per album too.

Fark you, Microsoft! 3-5 years later, I'm still gonna use my music.

What do you mean nickel? You could be sitting on an absolute gold mine.

Mayhem of the Black Underclass:

You might be able to do that, but you'll lose quality. And speaker outputs typically put out way too much signal for a sensitive mic jack, so you're likely to get hard clipping no matter where you set your levels.

Not to mention that 128 kbps ain't that great, and 56 kbps is downright lousy.

This is why I still buy CDs of music I like. I find I treasure them more if I actually physically own them. And it takes less than 5 minutes to copy to mp3/wma format, so why not?

Has anyone ever seen a license to listen to the music you've just purchased? I've never seen one. The Media cartels say that I need a license to listen to music, and that entails some sort of physical thing like a peice of paper or a text file, but I have never ever seen a license.

Is this all a scam to sue the entire world for not having proper licenses to listen to music?

fluffy2097: Has anyone ever seen a license to listen to the music you've just purchased? I've never seen one. The Media cartels say that I need a license to listen to music, and that entails some sort of physical thing like a peice of paper or a text file, but I have never ever seen a license.

Is this all a scam to sue the entire world for not having proper licenses to listen to music?

Remember during the install when you clicked "Next" a bunch of times until it did what you wanted?

Mayhem of the Black Underclass: Step 1) Plug cable into speaker and mic jacks.
2) Open sound recorder. (you may have to record 30 seconds of silence, and keep adding the file to a new file, until the "blank" is as long as the song you want.)
3) Play song and record in sound recorder.
4) You can either get an MP3 encoder for 128 + Kbps or use the encoder in sound recorder for 56 K mono.

It is possible to use MS software and $.99 hardware to outsmart your DRM.

Or you could just D/L whatever you want off of BT. If you're worried about getting caught, just use somebody else's WIFI or buy a hacked cable modem from sigma.

GibbyTheMole:
You might be able to do that, but you'll lose quality. And speaker outputs typically put out way too much signal for a sensitive mic jack, so you're likely to get hard clipping no matter where you set your levels.

Not to mention that 128 kbps ain't that great, and 56 kbps is downright lousy.

Yeah you'll have level problems and lost quality, but this is because you bought DRM coded music in the first place, I'm giving you the $1 solution. see that $1? It often does not signify quality. It's just a really easy way out of a shiatty situation you got yourself into. Plus I got you a WAV, which you can do anything you want with it.

/I can't hear the difference in vocals at 128 so I know my ears are going. (Symbols for some reason always sound bad in MP3)

CyranoJones: Is it just me or has Microsoft been one huge FAIL since 2005?

You mean right around the time Ballmer took over?

GibbyTheMole: "Microsoft did not provide a reason for the decision."

Hmmmm... Gee, I wonder what the reason could be?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

If you've bought music from MSN & have access to two computers:

1) Hook the audio output of the computer where the MSN music resides to the line in on another computer.

2) Download Audacity on that other computer.

3) Record the crippled music off on the Audacity-equipped computer & save as a high bitrate MP3.
3.5 lose quality
4) Tell Microsoft to suck the money you already gave them and then act superior when you have circumvented a roadblock that microsoft invented at no cost to microsoft

I think that clears it up.

There's never any reason to deal with DRM protected files. I view them in the same way that I view virii, I would never consider even having them on my hard drive. Unless, of course, it was a temporary thing while I was stripping the DRM. But that's rarely necessary. There's a stripped, clean copy of every MP3 worth owning out there somewhere.

Please. YOU own the formation of 1's and 0's that I play back on my system? You better crush some tinfoil on that antenna, you're getting some heavy-duty interference in your signal there....

That's why I get all my music off of BitTorrent.

madmann: YOU own the formation of 1's and 0's that I play back on my system?

Yes. That's just stupid to say. Those ones and zeroes represent a creative work, and that information content does belong to someone. That's what copyright law exists for.

jso2897: t3knomanser: RockIsDead: Microsoft was built on a lie.

Huh?

He's raging against the machine. When they do that, it's better to just let them wind down - no point reasoning with them - they get into a zone, like a berserker or something.

How long do we have to wait before he asks if it was over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Can you say MusicMatch? I knew you could.

Fortunately I only bought like 30 songs. Fortunately I burned them as CDs but that's the only way I can hear them, unless I want to re-rip the cds made from wma's...

t3knomanser: madmann: YOU own the formation of 1's and 0's that I play back on my system?

Yes. That's just stupid to say. Those ones and zeroes represent a creative work, and that information content does belong to someone. That's what copyright law exists for.

Uh, no.

When you "buy" songs, you also "buy" limited license to the personal use of the song. The bits on my hard drive (or as you put it, the "information content") belong to ME. Making my data "belong" to someone else is entirely NOT what copyright law is for. Copyright law exists solely to reward creatives by making it difficult for someone else to profit from their work, depressing their market share. Note that I said difficult, because it doesn't even STOP other people from taking parts of your work, and was never intended to. See also: Fair use, parody, transformative works.

another reason to NOT pay for music ever!
only n00bs will fall for it....whatever

Digital music in general is a bad idea, couldnt said users just copy their songs to cds and be done with it? Its not like MS is only giving them until next week, its crappy on either part but they still gave a deadline...

The reason digital music sucks is suppose you just bought a ton of digital music and were in the middle of backing it up and by some strange occurance the hdd goes up in smoke and those files are not recoverable, no one is going to assist you you are out of luck. Kind of the same thing sorta but at least they gave a warning...still I do see a lawsuit coming out of this....