MSN Music Customers No Go For Zune
Just when you thought Microsoft had finally got something right, they go ahead and get it wrong. How? It’s simple really. You allow users to buy music from your very own music store for years and years and then excite them with the release of a fantastic new media player known to you and I as the Zune. Sounds nice, I know, but in typical Microsoft fashion you then stop your very own customers from using your very own music player.
It seems that when Microsoft release the Zune media player in the United States on 14th November, they’ll also be closing down the MSN Music store to replace it with their new Zune music store service. However, for some reason they aren’t allowing songs bought via the MSN Music store to play on the Zune media player – something which will potentially anger customers of what looks to be another flop of this MP3 player.
The reason behind this is down to the PlayForSure DRM system, a certification given by Microsoft to verify that music stores using the Windows Media Audio/Video (WMA) format will play on players that back the PlayForSure system. Apple has its own system called FairPlay DRM which uses the AAC format (Apples version of WMA) and is only used on content purchased from the iTunes Store – this content can only be transferred to devices supporting it, which is currently only the iPod.
A few of the vendors that support the PlayForSure system are Creative Labs, Samsung, Toshiba and San Disk, etc. However, Microsoft aren’t allowing the Zune to support the PlayForSure system, giving it its own DRM system to stop customers from buying music on other stores and transferring it to the Zune device. Microsoft is basically trying to attempt an Apple scenario where media purchased on their store must be played on their player.
Possible solution?
Rhapsody, an online music store owned by RealNetworks, currently allows users to convert tracks purchased on the Rhapsody music service (which uses the Helix DRM) to Apple’s AAC FairPlay DRM, allowing music to be transferred to the iPod. Apple has constantly challenged this by updating the firmware on iPod, but RealNetworks continually responds with further updates to their own store to allow this conversion to carry on. There is no reason why Microsoft couldn’t offer the same service with the Zune store when it is released, allowing its users to convert previously purchased tracks from its MSN Music Store to the Zune format. The only downfall of this is that tracks purchased from other services using the PlayForSure service will also be playable on the Zune device, further stopping Microsoft from achieving their plan.
What about MSN Music customers and others with supporting devices?
It seems as though music purchased via MSN Music will still be listenable, allowing users to transfer music to and from supporting devices. Of course once the store closes there will be no chance of buying more music from it. Most devices should still be usable though as Napster, URGE and Yahoo! Music still offer content using Microsoft’s PlayForSure system.
It seems as though Microsoft is willing to cut off a large number of current customers just to set up a closed group on the Zune player. Their past ‘mistakes’ could offer a bleak future, despite Microsoft claiming to pump billions into the Zune player in order to make it successful, even if the success isn’t apparent at first.
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Find foot. Aim. Fire!
This begs the question…
If Microsoft was willing to alienate every single MSN Music customer (people who have shown they are already loyal MS customers), how huge of a flop must MSN Music have been?
One can’t think there were a significant number of customers or Microsoft would have provided some migration solution, don’t ya think?
I am honestly puzzled as to why they wouldn’t offer a re-download of already purchased tracks for free to their existing customers to entice them to buy a Zune.
How hard could it be? They have the database of customers. They have the tracks those customers have purchased. Why not offer a limited upgrade offer? “Buy a Zune (in the first 3 months) and get all your MSN Music free!”
Seems like a no-brainer to me. Take a small loss on the re-downloaded tracks to get Zunes into people’s hands. Hell, they’ve lost billions on Xbox… What a few more dollars to ensure some extra marketshare for Zune?
Do we know for sure (subtle pun there) that the Zune store won’t let you re-download music bought from the MSN Music Store?
I’m just saying that we don’t know what Microsoft’s plans are for the Zune store.
“… AAC format (Apples version of WMA)”
A quick trip to Wikipedia shows this:
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a standardised, lossy digital audio compression scheme. It was developed with the cooperation and contributions of companies mainly including Dolby, Fraunhofer (FhG), AT&T;, Sony and Nokia, and was officially declared an international standard by the Moving Pictures Experts Group in April of 1997.
So it is an international standard that Apple has adopted, not developed. And certainly NOT “Apple’s version of WMA”. That statement is so very wrong on so many levels! Homework time Aaron!
m4p drm is apple’s version of wmf drm.
Although the two things are not trying to achieve the same end.
Just when you thought Microsoft had finally got something right
Um...raise your hands anyone here who thought this.
For the record, I think this is a bone-headed move by MS. I hate DRM, and adding yet another restrictive crippling scheme to PFS and FP is ultimately bad for consumers.
But it seems to me that it’s difficult to argue that DRM is magically easy to circumvent, as many do with FP, and that there are so few DRM purchasers as to make DRM virtually a non-issue - and then turn around and criticize MS for this new policy, particularly when MS has allegedly stated that they will allow existing PFS users to update their existing library with the the new DRM (which is admittedly just a rumor).
Question, does MSN music have any type of DRM built into it, if not, does this mean that people will not be able to uploaded legal music that was purchased via CD to the new Zune player.
As I said in another discussion here, I think the Zune has great potential but it’s biggest threat is Microsoft’s gross stupidity.
doshea said: Find foot. Aim. Fire!
Can’t say it any better.
Once again the world’s leading software company demonstrates their incompetence and lack of vision. When they developed “Plays-for-Sure” DRM, they didn’t figure out some way that each seller had their own unique signature? If they had, they could have distinguished between MSN Music customers and all the rest, and let the former keep their songs on the new system…
Macster2,
Yes, MSN Music used the now ironically named “Plays For Sure” DRM. Licensees of PFS (like Creative, iRiver, etc) could use these DRM’d files on their players.
Zune does not support Plays For Sure (hence the irony), so that any user who has bought PFS tracks from MSN Music (or Rhapsody or other music services using PFS) won’t be able to listen to them on their Zunes.
The main reason Microsoft has done this is to force Zune users to buy music from the Zune store (rather than the other services that offer Plays For Sure DRM’d tracks). Basically, Microsoft is using Apple’s vertical integration strategy.
However, this means that existing MSN Music customers have been screwed. To use a Zune, they’d need to re-purchase downloaded tracks through the Zune store. (Note that this does not affect anyone who has a hard-copy CD. You can almost always** rip a CD to any format).
** There are exceptions - some of the new “copy protected” CDs don’t allow themselves to be ripped by any software whethere it’s iTunes or Windows Media Player. These are somewhat rare though since only one or two record companies use this format.
So, Microsoft’s big mistake here is not to offer MSN Music customers re-downloads for free from the Zune store. They won’t get any platform lock-in for those customers. If I were an MSN Music customer, I’d be more likely to consider an iPod for my next music player since neither the Zune nor the iPod would play my existing downloaded tracks. In all liklihood, if I already have a Creative or iRiver player, I might stick with that platform since those will continue to support Plays For Sure.
Granted, we don’t know for certain that MS won’t make this offer, but since there has been no announcement so far, it’s unlikely since one would think they’d want to create more buzz for Zune and an offer like that would be a good start. It would also create a *lot* of good will from MSN Music customers… And MS could use all the good will they can get.
Whether one agrees with the Apple/MS verticle integration stategy or not, Apple has a reputation as being mostly pro-consumer while MS has the opposite. They need all the positive PR they can get if they want people to “trust” the Zune as a platform, especially after abandoning Plays For Sure. Offering free downloads to existing customers would be a step in the right direction.
Loving this headline. Just plain funny.
(Admittedly not a great article.)
Thanks VB, I’m not in the population of people downloading music, even though I have an iPod and have tons of music, I really don’t even use it that much for music.