Sun, Apr 27 2008 1:14 AM aheram

News: Microsoft to Breach Contract with Consumers

Microsoft is ending its license retrieval service for its MSN Music store, burdening consumers that legally bought their DRM-saddled music from Microsoft no way to transfer their music after August 31, 2008. Yet another example of an industry that does not feel compelled to meet its contractual obligations to consumers fooled into trusting them. As with many cases like this, it is painfully apparent that consumers do not really own the DRM-saddled content they legally bought.

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.

LINK TO NEWS ARTICLE >>

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# re: News: Microsoft to Breach Contract with Consumers

Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:16 PM by Curt Howland

To put it bluntly, why is anyone surprised?

"We" have warned, or been warned, about the problems with "DRM" since the phrase was coined.

# re: News: Microsoft to Breach Contract with Consumers

Saturday, April 26, 2008 5:38 PM by aheram

It arises from the mistaken belief that ownership of certain sold goods (e.g. music) is not transferable to the consumer. Hm... That is a blog post there.