Microsoft announces MSN Music DRM servers will shut off, stranding purchased tracks
In April 2008 Microsoft told former MSN Music customers it would shut down the DRM license servers for music they had purchased, meaning tracks could no longer be authorized on new computers. After criticism, Microsoft extended license-server support through 2011.
- Date
- April 22, 2008
- Platform
- MSN Music
- Refunds offered
- No
- Offline copy provided
- No
What happened
MSN Music, Microsoft's download store, closed to new sales in 2006. In April 2008, Microsoft emailed customers that it would shut down the DRM license-key servers on August 31, 2008. Purchased tracks would keep playing on already-authorized machines but could never be authorized on a new or reformatted computer — a delayed-fuse revocation.
Following public criticism, including an open letter from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Microsoft announced in June 2008 that it would keep the license servers running through the end of 2011.
Consumer impact
- No refunds were offered; the remedy was a three-year extension of the authorization window.
- Customers who wanted permanent access were effectively directed to burn tracks to CD — a workaround, not a remedy.
Why it matters
This 2008 case is the earliest widely covered example of the pattern the database documents, and it established the vocabulary ("DRM server shutdown") still used today. Seventeen years later the underlying mechanic — purchased media dependent on a vendor's authorization server — remains standard across game and video storefronts.
Sources
- DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys (Apr 2008) — Ars Technica (archived)
- MSN Music pulls the plug on customers (Apr 2008) — Electronic Frontier Foundation (archived)
- Microsoft to MSN Music customers: your music is still good — till 2011 (Jun 2008) — Electronic Frontier Foundation (archived)