DRM Problems Plague Some Zune Marketplace Customers

[Jason Dunn]

<p>Digital Rights Management, or DRM as it's better know, is an ugly technology that ends up doing far more to alienate legitimate consumers of media content than it does to stop the people who want to take content they didn't pay for. Case in point: here's an email I received from a Zune Thoughts reader last week...</p><p><em>"I just upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista, and it went smoothly. That is until I tried to sync my zune. Apparently many of the songs I purchased long ago from the zune marketplace were DRM protected WMA. Of those songs a number are now available only as MP3. Somehow my songs, which worked fine until I upgraded to Win7, are now useless files that won't play on my PC or sync to my zune. I called zune customer support and they told me that per Microsoft they are not allowed to credit me for songs that were once WMA and are now only available as MP3 because the content provider has changed. I am now stuck having spent money for music that is gone forever...It is incredibly hard to believe that they are refusing to help one of their customers out. I guess I am going to have to switch to using the Amazon MP3 store 100% of the time. The only reason I was purchasing from the zune marketplace to begin with was an effort to support Zune."</em></p><p>Can you believe that? We're not talking here about a DRM-laden store going away - <a href="http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/89626" target="_blank">a la MSN Music</a> - we're talking about the Zune Marketplace's back-end music content shifting and burning customers in the process because the DRM-laden WMA files they purchased magically vanished and MP3s appeared in their place. I'm not aware of any simple way - or even a complex way for that matter - for users to export the DRM licenses for their Zune Marketplace-purchased content. So what does the Zune team expect people to do? Never switch computers, and never upgrade to Windows 7?</p><p>The good news here is that a few days after this person contacted me, he followed up to inform me that someone from the Zune Team contacted him and offered him song credits to fix this situation. That's great to hear, but it's clear the Zune Marketplace has a very screwed up system if this was allowed to happen in the first place.</p><p>DRM is a poison that's best avoided, and until the Zune Marketplace is 100% DRM-free, I'm not going to purchase songs from it. Amazon's MP3 store gets all my money right now. Where do you purchase your music from?</p>

[NSILMike]

Jason-
I agree with 95% of what you've said. DRM is definitely a poison that harms 'legal' customers without doing much to prevent piracy among those who would choose that path... But, I don't think it's necessary to boycott the zune marketplace completely until they are 100% DRM-free for music. Anecdotal reports suggest that for purchased tracks they are up to around 75 or 80% DRM-free. And, DRM free tracks and albums are clearly labeled that way. I'd guess that MS is pushing hard to get to 100%, and it's content providers that lag...although that is just my theory.
Cheers!

[SoundMix]

I stand by my previous negative comments about the Zune (Team?).

They will be responsibe for sabotaging what could be a great piece of hardware (HD) with their inability to create anything but buggy DRM laden software.

I either purchase CD's and rip, or MP3's from Amazon. I only use the Marketplace for podcasts. If the Podcast feature disappears, I will get rid of the zune.

[snume]

I feel the same way about DRM, but I'd even prefer the ability to choose from all the options the US has. We can't use Amazon or the Zune Marketplace up here in Canada. iTunes is prettyy much it and I refuse to use it. We also have Puretracks (I think) but the selection is bunk and the DRM blows.

If I had access, I'd have a Zune pass today. One can dream, I guess.

Now, if only we'd get the ZuneHD and the kindle up here as well.

[mrozema]

I still buy music from the Zune Marketplace, HOWEVER, only in MP3 form.

That and I still buy CD's and rip them of course.

[Janak Parekh]

I feel the same way about DRM, but I'd even prefer the ability to choose from all the options the US has. We can't use Amazon or the Zune Marketplace up here in Canada. iTunes is prettyy much it and I refuse to use it. We also have Puretracks (I think) but the selection is bunk and the DRM blows. Although iTunes sells DRM-free AAC tracks now, pretty much exclusively.

Actually, Apple deserves credit in this regard - their DRM scheme has been simple, reliable, cross-platform, and they've been at the forefront of ditching their own working DRM scheme, for music at least. I avoided WMA DRM from day 1 when I saw the nonsense about conditional license transfers and whatnot. Microsoft deserves a serious rapping over the head about this.

--janak

[ShahnHogan]

Ok, so I have the same problem. I just need to call Zune Support and see what they can do?
Thanks,
Shahn

[Jason Dunn]

But, I don't think it's necessary to boycott the zune marketplace completely until they are 100% DRM-free for music. Anecdotal reports suggest that for purchased tracks they are up to around 75 or 80% DRM-free.

Here's the catch though: although you and I will look for the MP3 indicator, a lot of people won't. People don't really understand DRM until it smacks them in the face. And for whatever reason, it seems the vast majority of artists that I look up in the marketplace only offer music in DRM format. So I really won't be happy until the entire music catalogue is DRM-free...(with the exception of Zune Pass content of course).

[Jason Dunn]

We can't use Amazon or the Zune Marketplace up here in Canada. iTunes is prettyy much it and I refuse to use it. We also have Puretracks (I think) but the selection is bunk and the DRM blows.

I have some good news for you...I found a really nice online music store for Canadians! Watch the front page tomorrow morning. :D

[mrozema]

We can't use Amazon or the Zune Marketplace up here in Canada.
Funny thing about that. If you're determined, you can actually use the Zune Marketplace in Canada.

See Jason's thread "An International Zune User's Guide (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f5/international-zune-users-guide-23576.html)".

I live in Canada and buy non-DRM'd music from the Zune Marketplace.

[drewhill70]

After reading this article, I thought I would re-post my experience previously left on the Zune forums.

http://forums.zune.net/511136/ShowPost.aspx (http://forums.zune.net/511136/ShowPost.aspx)

09-07-2009, 9:24 PM
This item is no longer available at Zune Marketplace – Error Code: C00D27E1
I just reformatted my PC and installed Windows 7 today (legal version from TechNet). I made sure before doing so that all my Zune content was backed up. After re-installing the Zune software and copying all of my music content back to my PC, I got the error message C00D27E1 on 12 tracks and 2 albums.
CAN’T PLAY
Summary:
This item is no longer available at Zune Marketplace. Because of this, you can no longer play it or sync it with your Zune. There might be another iteration of it available in Zune Marketplace.
Eroor Code:
C00D27E1
This is due to the content being removed from the Zune MarketPlace. Some of the content has been changed to MP3 and some of the content has just been deleted from the site.
I called Zune Support and opened a case. Case # 1111497222.
The resolution to the case by Zune Support was to say they are sorry and that I should have burned all of my protected content to CD and re-ripped it. They said that burning to CD was the only true way to backup the content. So, Microsoft’s policy is to burn everything to CD. That doesn’t make sense since we own Zune devices that play the content. Who wants to use CDs. Besides, who wants to retype all the meta data on the re-ripped CDs.
I suggested that Microsoft’s policy should be to either issue credit (Microsoft Points) or allow the download of the MP3 versions of the songs. Apple iTunes automatically notifies their customers that MP3 versions are available and gives them the option to convert their content for a minimal price. Come on Microsoft, you can do the same.
If the content has been removed from Zune MarketPlace I can understand why the content can not be purchased anymore. But, why is it hard to re-issue licenses for content that has already been purchased and downloaded. This is the real flaw in the Zune MarketPlace design or licensing arrangements with the music companies. If I own the song then I should have rights to the song and technology should not stand in the way.
Also does Microsoft not understand that people change PCs frequently. I typically reload the OS on my PC or get a new one every year. So this issue will be a problem every year for me. Is it good use of Microsoft resources to spend over an hour on the phone with each customer that has this problem to go over each and every song purchased and what the error code is? I don’t think so.
As the months and years go on all the protected content that I’ve purchased at the Zune MarketPlace will slowly disappear. I am very dissatisfied with the resolution to this case. Microsoft management needs to come up with a better answer to this issue.
I for one will not purchase anymore protected content (music, videos, movies or whatever) from the Zune MarketPlace and will make it a pratice for my XBOX video purchases as well.

[Scarpad]

This isn't the first DRM nightmare to hit the zune marketplace, they have an ongoing , well documented, problem with music that people legitimately bought, being rendered unplayable when that traack is no longer available on the Marketplace. They have no way to flag that track as purchased, so when the person goes to play it they get an error. The inavailability of ot on the marketplace is usually when the artist decides to remove the tracks from the marketplace. It should affect those that have downloaded the track with the zune pass, but should not affect the track if purchased. The Zune MP has no way of dealing with this, so the people lose the ability to play the track.

I have DL many tracks with the pass, and have used my credits. But I would never use my hard earned $$$ till the MP does something about their Licensing issues.

[stlbud]

I learned long ago and far away about buying DRM tracks. I don't care how interesting the tracks are. I won't buy something I can't carry from one computer to another. I don't share tracks but won't tolerate having to pay more than once for a track. Zune pass? Not a chance. Those tracks aren't free. They are only for rent!

In light of recent court action, maybe someone needs to start a class action suite against the music industry, Microsoft and Apple over "selling" tracks for you to "keep". http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/legislation/news/index.cfm?newsid=16946

[Jason Dunn]

Zune pass? Not a chance. Those tracks aren't free. They are only for rent!

Well, yes, but remember with the Zune Pass you get 10 song credits a month for the MP3 versions of songs, so that's pretty good. :)

[drewhill70]

This is a repost of my experience previously left on the Zune forums: http://forums.zune.net/546428/ShowPost.aspx#546428

I have a song that I tried to purchase with Zune Pass credits on 10.25.09 that failed to download to my collection. It shows up in my purchase history and now I'm unable to download the song again. Yes, I used up one of my Zune Pass credits on 10.25.09, but didn't make a big deal about it then. I still do want to download the song as an mp3, but I get the following error on the "Confirm" screen when trying to buy the song,

"You've exhausted the number of times you can restore this item"

So, I called Zune support so they could fix their system to allow me to redownload the file. The reference number for the case is 1117438064. After being on the phone for 25 minutes describing the issue four times, giving them my contact infromation twice and being on hold twice, the Zune support solution is to give me a zune pass credit for the failed download on 10.25.09. As for the song that I still want to purchase they said that I should just download a different song since the one that I want will not work. When I explained that they did not fix my issue, I was told to try again in 24 hours.
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<o:p>I have to say when the Zune Marketplace messes up it gets real ugly and full resolution is unlikely. This leads to a poor customer experience and negative goodwill.
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