Microsoft Brings Back DRM

Barence writes "Microsoft yesterday unveiled its MSN Mobile Music service — and a surprise return to digital rights management (DRM). While companies such as Apple and Amazon have finally moved to music download services free of copy protection, MSN Mobile locks tracks to the mobile handset they are downloaded to. It also charges more than the other services per track, and offers no way to transfer your tracks to your new phone when you upgrade. The company's Head of Mobile UK spoke to PC Pro about the launch, but his answers are almost as baffling as the service itself. Best quote: Q: 'If I buy these songs on your service — and they're locked to my phone — what happens when I upgrade my phone in six months' time?' A: 'Well, I think you know the answer to that.'"

Comments

Re:Another Bomb Here to Stay

[flitty]

Yeah, M$ is going to make a patch that will stop you from playing .mp3 files on the Zune... I can see it now. Oh, and the next xbox 360 firmware update will make it so you can only Play Xbox 1 games on your 360.

Re:Another Bomb Here to Stay

[sanosuke001]

It's better in the form of being able to chat with 13 year old douche bags who call you gay, being able to have a list of all the friends you have online, and being able to access said list in any game all the while happily paying to do so.

oh, wait. you could always just call your friends, decide what server to connect to, and not worry about snot-nosed brats on the internet. Sorry, it isn't actually better nor gives any utility whatsoever.

Re:Clueless

[theaveng]

I think you're giving them too much credit. After all when they were asked, "Can you really expect people to buy music that's locked to a device they upgrade every 12 to 18 months?", they replied,

"I didn't realize phones were churning that quickly in the marketplace these days."

They are marketing idiots. Probably grads from the local community college.