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News |  24 Apr 2008 14:00 |  By RnMTeam

Microsoft to pull the plug on DRM enabled music service

Mumbai: Microsoft has disclosed plans to stop providing authorization keys for songs downloaded from the old MSN Music service.

It has also decided that it will soon stop supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of August.In an e-mail sent to its customers of MSN Music, the company says that as of 31 August 2008, support will stop for the retrieval of license keys for the songs they purchased on MSN Music or the authorisation of additional computers. It further states that if customers attempted to transfer songs to additional computers, those songs will not successfully play. The music will however continue to play on computers that have been authorised by that date or even to play them on the same PC if they change operating systems, including upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

Up till now, Plays For Sure DRM technology has allowed ex-MSN Music subscribers to switch authorisation to new machines and operating systems, so long as they keep abiding by a previously imposed limit of five computers but this news has upset a number of Microsoft customers ranging from anti-DRM music bloggers to Linux fans who are having a ball of a time by lambasting Plays for Sure and other DRM technology.

According to some bloggers who predicted this, DRM entered the picture and a whole new Pandora's Box was opened up becuase when copyrights expire the music becomes free for all but with DRM attached to the music, it makes it unavailable for anyone and future generations to enjoy this feature which in turn kills the music tracks, says a report on www.betanews.com.

MSN Music was shut down and replaced by Zune Markeplace in 2006 and people who bought music before the record industry began to see the light are still stuck with their DRMed music.

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