"Note that if your console hardware signature ever changes-- say, if your console fails and you get a replacement-- you're in trouble."

Not true. If your console fails, you send it in and get a replacement, but you don't send in the harddrive, and all the old stuff works seamlessly on the new machine.

Maybe it's tied to the harddrive?

"DRM sucks, but it's unavoidable and arguably the future--"

True, DRM sucks. But I'm totally of an opposite opinion of the necessity of it.

The record industry had it's best years when it was technically impossible to copy content. I'd even say that the whole industry was built on that, restricting technology.

Of course, content mediating companies want to keep it that way (the earth is still flat!). DRM is a last resort to delay progress.

The real wtf is: why are there so little DRM-free business models?

The games are tied to the console, not the Hard Drive so you have to go through a huge pain in the ass dealing with their horrible customer support line to re-activate the games on a new console after repaired. You'd think they would handle this for you as part of the whole process.

I hear PS3's DRM is more lenient in terms of moving content which is surprising in that it is Sony..

>I've purchased lots of downloadable content on the Xbox 360 at work, primarily new songs for Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, and Rock Band. I foolishly assumed all along that it would be no big deal to transfer that purchased content if I ever purchased an Xbox 360 for my home.

why did you do this ? (I don't own any console) - but i can't find a reason for doing this (the only possibility would be if you earned those MS points through some scheme)

OK on the principle of DRM but as long as it means I can't play the music I buy wherever I want, it's not Rights, it's Theft.

iTunes is great. Beg your pardon? I can't play the music I buy on my car radio? Oh! Then thanks but no, thanks.

BTW, when will Amazon MP3 be available in Europe?

I agree with Serge... If I want music I check eMusic first as I have a subscription there... if they don't have it, I check Amazon MP3... if they don't have it, I do without (unless I just absolutely can't stand it then I get it from iTunes and run it through DRM free software).

DRM is not the future. Hassles like the one you describe are exactly why I don't think it'll succeed.

No, I don't buy stuff off of xBox Live either. I think I have once, but it was throw away content that I only expected to see once anyway.

Why didn't you purchase a PS3 then? You can transfer the content to another PS3 under your own account, no problem, and most accessories are free, as they're build in! :)

Shoot, I meant to mention this in the body of the post-- if anyone is interested, my gamertag is "codinghorror".

> Maybe it's tied to the harddrive?

As mentioned in the article, downloaded content is tied to 1) the Xbox Live account it was purchased under and 2) the Xbox 360 hardware itself. So if you were to return your Xbox 360 for repair and keep the hard drive, your old content will work.. but *only* when your Xbox Live account is logged in. Prior to the hardware swap, your downloaded content would work for any account, online or not, on that Xbox 360. You've lost rights simply because you were unlucky enough to have your hardware go bad. Not a great arrangement.

> If I want music I check eMusic first as I have a subscription there... if they don't have it, I check Amazon MP3

I totally support Amazon MP3 DRM-free music store, I've bought *tons* of music from there. It's great! Not sure how this relates to the Xbox 360 or iPhone ecosystems, however.

DRM is the very reason I strictly stick to buying music physically, i.e. ordering the CD at amazon. I then use iTunes to load it on my computer and play it from there, which is way more conveniently than switching CDs or burning customized playlists on CD-Rs. And for that part, iTunes is perfect for me. It synchronizes may collection and playlist with my iPod without any hassle of DRM whatsoever. Put in the CD, select "convert to mp3" from the context menu, wait a few minutes for the ripping, and all done. And it is totally legal, as it is just a private backup for myself.

And that is why iTunes is so sweet. Not because you can download DRM-crippled music on the internet. But because you have the CHOICE whether to go with DRM or buy the CD without. And that's what matters: your personal choice. As long as that is respected, Users will accept the system. But if you are forced to stupid things lime double-purchasing the same content for yourself, users will get pissed for a good reason.

The problem is not DRM in itself. It is those companies that totally force it upon you without leaving you the choice. And that's why iTunes is so great, because you have the choice.

It's keyed to the harddrive. I've had to replace my 360 twice (yes, twice) due to the red ring of death problem; the downloaded content I have (like, probably over $400 worth of Arcade games & such) will work as long as my account is on that harddrive. For instance, if I pop out my harddrive and put it into another 360, it will still function as if it was my own personal 360; the DRM doesn't change on the 360's serial number.

When you send your console off to Microsoft to be repaired, they are very explicit that you not return your harddrive. Two warnings over the phone and a third in the box you get to send it back.

That being said, the XBox Live account recovery model sucks. After a year of gaming, it takes about 15-20 minutes for myself or any of my friends to recover our profiles. Since we're all pretty anti-hardware, we end up just playing on Guest accounts whenever we're not at home. So much for the unified experience.

> Why didn't you purchase a PS3 then?

Horrible software library, mediocre online support. But I agree the built in WiFi is definitely a nice plus, and it seems Sony is (quite shockingly) more lenient with DRM:

<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/20/ps3-drm-downloads-support-five-systems/">http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/20/ps3-drm-downloads-support-five-systems/</a>

Downloaded content can be shared among up to five different PS3s, whereas the Microsoft only allows you to share content on exactly one (1) Xbox 360.

This is quite the opposite of the Jeff that I'm used to. I come to this site in order to get the usual "hey, this <process/gadget/whatever> is cumbersome and expensive and just plain stupid, so why do we have to live with it, why do we keep doing it, and this is how you change it"-speech. But not this time.

I don't think people will ever settle for these solutions. Buying content twice, or having to reactivating it by phone or internet even if you own a seemingly working copy of it, well that's just cumbersome and expensive and just plain stupid. So why do we have to live with it, why do we keep doing it? Now tell me Jeff, how do we change it? You have had sound and decent answers before. Why not this time around?

Another problem with DRM is that the XBox 360 is region-coded for games. (Or at least it's up to the game publisher)

I am dying to play RockBand but it is not released in Asia yet and even if I went to the trouble of buying it in the USA and shipping it over it wouldn't work (Some poor people have done this already). It is listed in Wikipedia as TBA 2008, but nowhere can I find any idea of a release date and there are rumours that it will never be released here.

So because of their stupid DRM they are missing out on the whole Asian market. Insane!

I bought the Xbox just to play Guitar Hero and Rockband. I guess I'll have to renew my boycott of EA games again :( and stick to the uncoded PC in future.

> It's keyed to the harddrive.

David, Xbox Live downloaded content is not keyed to the harddrive. It's keyed to the Xbox Live account and the 360 hardware signature (eg, the CPU, network card, etcetera).

Your content appears to still work because you're obviously logging in to the Xbox Live account the content was purchased under. Try accessing that same content from another different Xbox Live account, or a local (offline) account-- you won't be able to, because your hardware signature has changed.

This of course is not your fault, it's Microsoft's fault for the forced hardware replacement (and their highly restrictive "only allow sharing on the original Xbox 360 hardware" policy).

> Now tell me Jeff, how do we change it? You have had sound and decent answers before. Why not this time around?

I think the iPhone and Xbox 360 are such compelling consumer products that it's actually a reasonable tradeoff to live with their DRM lock-in limitations.

As Frans pointed out, I could boycott the Xbox 360 and go PS3, but that's trading one set of problems for another. I am *mightily* impressed that Sony allows you to copy downloaded content to five different PS3s, though.

Similarly, I could boycott the iPhone (or hack/unlock it, which I do not believe is a sustainible medium or long term solution)-- but honestly, no other smartphone comes close to the iPhone in terms of features and internet browsing experience. It's only the lack of 3G and 1st gen nature of the hardware keeping me from buying one, as I described here:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000896.html

And right as I start to go on a rant about how it's keyed to the harddrive, I go and try it out again. Yep, it's keyed to the 360's CPU and whatever else.

More proof that it's confusing and suck. The easy way around this is to just have the main content holder auto-sign in on the xbox (which validates all of their purchased items), but this is a cheap hack. Whenever my roommates want to play a game I bought, they have to sign me in first, otherwise the DRM doesn't validate the purchase.

Way to suck Microsoft. :(

Way to go on 5-starring that song, Jeff.

I hate DRM, simply because if I pay for something, I expect to be able to do whatever the hell I want with it. The Live account system works well, so it should be tied to that, and ONLY that. Why the hell does it matter what 360 you use content on if they have the assurance that you can only log on to one console with that Live account?!

Your profile says "I am me". If "I" have paid for "this" then "I" have nothing to do with "the thing I am playing it on", "I" am the owner.

Lock-ins force people to think down other avenues, I outright refuse to buy an iPoo'd because of its stupid DRM system. I'd rather by the CD and copy to my compy as MP3. Likewise, I don't bother with paid Live content. I just wanna shoot people on COD4 =D

Hi Guys,

I should point out that a cable can be purchased from Microsoft that transfers and converts the DRM from console to console! All you need is the old hardrive and the cable and it will transfter, through USB to the new console.

Many stores in the UK offer this as a service and have a cable that can be used to tranfer your content when you upgrade or replace your Xbox 360... I did this when I upgraded from my 360 Pro to an Elite.

No problems :)

Martin

> I should point out that a cable can be purchased from Microsoft that transfers and converts the DRM from console to console!

Martin, as I've mentioned several times, downloaded content is tied to the Xbox 360 hardware signature (CPU, ethernet, etc-- the hard drive is removable and thus not a part of the signature) and the Xbox Live login the account was purchased under.

Buying and upgrading to an Elite is no different than getting a repaired console. All the same issues apply, transfer cable or not. See confirmation here:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9714533-1.html

I guess the salient point is that DRM is complicated and almost nobody understands it. I know I didn't understand it until I was forced to take a crash course in learning it.. sadly, this knowledge didn't save me the $140 I had hoped it would.

>Lock-ins force people to think down other avenues, I outright refuse to buy an iPoo'd because of its stupid DRM system. I'd rather by the CD and copy to my compy as MP3.

As I stated above, that's exactly how you can use iTunes. It is then just a rather comfortable media center with built-in ripping support, automated ID-tag-filling*, and with the iPod being a portable version of the very same media library you have on your computer. No DRM involved whatsoever. You can even retrieve the mp3-files back from the iPod if you have it formatted as a volume before putting your stuff onto it.

As some other readers have pointed out, I agree that DRM sucks, but I don't think there is a necessity of it.

I have original copies of programs for which I use a cd of hacked key-free versions or simply smooth "copy"-installs to avoid the terrible hassle of mantaining the boxes, the keys, and some times even having to call a number to be given a code which is tied to the system where I'm installing it. Some times, a pirated version is the only simple and easy way (just download) to test a software to decide whether you want to buy or not.

It shocks me that a person like you so worried about the user experience is willing to allow DRM. DRM is the opposite of presumption of innocence. In the end, only the righteous purchasers will suffer DRM.

[Excuse my English, it's not my native tongue]

To paraphrase: at least the rapist uses lube, and is gentle?

You disgust me.

I completely agree with you, Linus.

I don't want DRM. DRM is just a way of penalising people who legally purchase content, and creating a nothing but a minor hurdle to those who want to get around it, the people it's targeting. You said it yourself Jeff: "DRM sucks". So, then, vote with your wallet. There's no use bitching about something with your mouth, then handing over money, implicitly supporting it, with your hands.

Sole purpose of DRM is to get money out of your wallet. Why complain? Only way to make providers be friendly to users is to not buy anything from a company that uses DRM until they understand that being friendly brings more income than being greedy. Using DRM and paying for it only motivates companies to lay more restrictions and promote more ridiculous laws.

"the iPod being a portable version of the very same media library you have on your computer"

Yes, which you can't play anywhere else. I have an ever growing collection of Creative Commons liscenced music and I have to keep two copies of it on my iPod so I can share it with people - one that play's and one as plain files.

Wow, one big long advertisement asking people to bow down, bend over, and buy an XBOX 360. DRM is not the future if we don't accept it, and the terms we are offered are not acceptable. You may think so, but you are a bad person for doing so. The number of replies you've posted in the comments trying to defend your decision are telling.

RE: The confuision over RRoD 360 being replaced by MS and DLC still working.

If MS do the repair/exchange they will automatically transfer the 'licence' for DLC to the new box. However, if you upgrade to an Elite or get your retailer to swap the broken console (like I did) you don't have a chance of getting it sorted.

I've been chasing MS since May '07 to get 5400MSP of content 'moved' to my new replaement console and I'm losing the will to live.

The biggest problem I found with the whole DRM thing on the xbox is what you have to do to transfer the content across after a hardware replacement. after numerous conversations with xbox live support they tell you that in order to transfer the content you have to create another xbox live account in order for them to refund the points to.

You actually have to create *another* xbox live account (which of course means having to create a second email address specifically for this purpose) to re-download the content with. How stupid is that?

The one positive side to the whole thing is that you do get the points back rather than the actual content so you can decide to spend them on something slightly different this time.

I would also just like to mention that xbox live support is absolutely terrible. It's the worst support i've ever had to deal with and that includes my utility companies which previously seemed to set whole new levels of incompetence.

A bit of advice I can give that might prevent a few wasted months of dealing with xbox live support is that in order to refund points to a new xbox live account you first have to have tried downloading content from the marketplace otherwise the refund will fail and they'll advise you to create another new account. I had created 4 accounts (and waited 5 days between each one as advised) before I spoke to someone who knew this.

Hehe, anyway, I love the damn 360. In my opinion it's currently my favourite of the three console but microsoft sure know how to mess up every product.

Just quoting from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management</a>

"DRM on distributed purpose built hardware

Many DRM schemes use encrypted media which requires purpose built hardware to hear or see the content. This appears to ensure that only licensed users (those with the hardware) can access the content. It additionally tries to protect a secret decryption key from the users of the system.

While this in principle can work, it is extremely difficult to build the hardware to protect the secret key against a sufficiently determined adversary. Many such systems have failed in the field, and in fact, it is thought that none have yet survived several years of deployment. Once the secret key is known, building a version of the hardware that performs no checks is often relatively straightforward.

In addition user verification provisions are frequently subject to attack."

Wasn't the x-box hacked already?

"but this meant I'd be schlepping a memory card dongle back and forth from home to work in perpetuity."

I'm really impressed that you have an Xbox 360 at work!

I hate to be the one to tell you but if you just would've phoned Microsoft they give you keycodes to re-download the content. You didn't need to buy it again.

A little off-topic, but I still can't accept that Xbox 360 doesn't have Wifi. ALL major consoles launched in the past few years have it: DS, PSP, Wii, PS3.

Cost is definately not an issue, or else DS, PSP and Wii wouldn't have it.

It's almost hilarious seeing my friend having a 10 meter cable running through his house all the way from his console to his wireless(!) router.

>DRM sucks, but it's unavoidable

It's not unavoidable until they start using it to protect oxygen and food. I haven't purchased a non-used CD in years. (Which makes me a dirty pirate in the eyes of the RIAA, I'm sure.)

If they charged something closer to true cost of distribution, then it might be worth it to license a copy for at home and a copy for at work, but having to pay another $140 for something you already purchased is not acceptable.

The other issue is that most people budget $x for downloadable content. So doubling the price of everything doesn't translate into double the sales -- it just means they sell half as many items. They're alienating customers one-by-one but they're not even significantly increasing their short-term profits in the bargain. The music industry (which I'm sure is more responsible for the price of Rock Band songs than Microsoft is) needs to read the story of how to catch a monkey.

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=6015

Call me old-fashioned, but given the amount of money spent on the hardware, the software and the premium content and the time invested in learning how to play the songs on the harder levels, wouldn't buying and learning a real live guitar be a better option?...

But Brian, you're forgetting that this is the generation that thinks if they if they've either 1)talked about something 2)seen it in a movie/TV show or 3)did it in a video game that they've ACTUALLY done it. The most duped generation in history.

Even though the Xbox 360 is quite restrictive I'm still tempted to choose it over Ps3 now that my Ps2 isn't functioning because at the momemt it has more "fun for buck" than the Ps3.But the Idea of downloaded content not being transferable gives me the chills.

PS:Check out my blog.Finished it this mourning.

You're using the wrong verb. With DRM, you don't *buy* music; you *lease* music. It's a lease that allows you to play the music only as allowed by the vendor.

DRM is one of the most ill-thought-out and badly realised knee-jerk reactions ever conceived in the software world. I find it incredible that you're passively defending it like this.
People naturally tend to compare the DRM model to things like CDs, but I think it's much worse than that. Imagine if food had some sort of DRM. Ingredient A refuses to be used in a recipe with ingredient B because it's made by a different company. You cannot cook a meal for your spouse because they haven't paid for it. If something goes past its sell-by date, it self-destructs, regardless of its actual level of toxicity.
You don't store something you've bought in your fridge in time, so it self-destructs. You can't just have a slice of cheese, you have to have the whole thing in one sitting. You can only take the bottle of milk out of a fridge a certain number of times. You cannot drink the milk at your friend's house. You can only drink the milk out of authorised containers. Some unidentified issue has occured whilst you were trying to eat your sandwich, and you must now spend half an hour with some clueless tech support person trying to resolve it. There was an intermittent power failure and the contents of your kitchen self-destructed. The food supplier is aware of the problem and will hopefully have the issue resolved within 6 months.

Ok. That is extreme. But only because we wouldn't stand for it. The problem is, when it comes to media, there is absolutely no reason why we should stand for it. We've just grown soft. The irony of all of this is that the type of person who wouldn't stand for this sort of thing is also the type of person who wouldn't buy it in the first place, and so the rest of us just quietly accept it. Well we shouldn't. And the silent protest of the boycott doesn't work either.

I love reading this blog, but really you should have the attitude you've had in other topics- that everything is fixable, and that sticking with something that sort of works as a stop-gap is not a solution.

What about steam? I believe with the recent efforts from Valve (http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/) steam will pick up and it is not as restrictive as XBox seems to be.

yeah you are right,steam is one of those restrictive services.lets hope is picks up as you say.Can't wait to see Half life 2: episode 3 brings.

Oh, what a load of crap.

It's not DRM ignorance that's expensive. DRM and in particular MS' DRM implementation are expensive.

Wow.

Not only were you ignorant of DRM.... then you rewarded them for creating such an evil system?!

You're not the victim here, you're the perputrator.

I'm so sick of the "gaming" industry. I plan to play my NES and skip all this headache until the industry gets the proper business models figured out. (Hint: Pay attention to what Amazon is doing.)

I have a hard enough time paying for bits and bytes without a physical media copy as it is, so aesthetically offensive DRM schemes that try to turn software into a physical object just kill the value proposition for me. I might buy a Wii, but I'll never buy an Xbox 360 or PS3. I don't need or want my game console jacked into the interwebs.

Hey Now Jeff,
Rock band sure is a fun game.
Coding Horror fan,
Catto

This blog used to be about coding (i.e. www.codinghorror.com). I'm sick of all this talk about not coding. I'm not going to read anymore.

Bye!

And, by re-purchasing those songs, you've told Microsoft that you're perfectly content with their DRM and they should continue the same practices. If you have an issue with what they're doing, vote with your wallet.

@Serge and others:

"iTunes is great. Beg your pardon? I can't play the music I buy on my car radio? Oh! Then thanks but no, thanks."

Excuse me but not only does iTunes sell DRM-free music (called iTunes Plus) but you can also burn CDs of your music whether it has DRM or not. And they play on your radio. Or anything else with a CD drive.

Curiosity on my part:

I've recently sent an Xbox to my army brother in Afghanistan - should he be registering a profile or his hardware, and would either affect him adversely when he brings it back to the States?

I can personally confirm to all the people here that it is tied to the 360, not the hard drive. I never noticed it at first either, after my first replacement console, until one day our internet connection went down... and when I started Geometry Wars it was in trial mode.

Ultimately, though, I think that's a testament to how good Microsoft's DRM is. It still sucks, but as far as DRM goes it's not as bad as it could be. It's servicable.

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't actually need to be using the content, you just need to have your account be logged in. Might prove a problem with Rock Band if 4 people are playing and none of them are you, but otherwise it shouldn't be hard to just have people using your box sign you in and just not use that controller.

Also, you may have been a bit hasty in your repurchase of songs (and can I just say... WOW. $100? That's pretty hardcore, man). I've heard that if you bug Microsoft enough they'll invalidate your old copies and reissue you points to buy them again, although that was in the case of replaced consoles, so they may not do it for you.

I got bit by this problem a few months back when I upgraded to an elite after my 360 RRoD'ed. It really sucks.

What makes it even worse is
1) There is a bug in Puzzle Quest, so you have to redownload it every time to play it on the new box, even if you're logged in, and
2) I was playing Oblivion over the holidays, and because of the Live troubles, 2 of my DLC quests got wiped out because they couldn't validate the download at that time, so it was either not play because Live was down, or lose the quest markers (which I didn't realize was happening until I logged back in a few days later. Ugh)

Everybody keeps talking about how the HD war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is already over because Downloadable Content is the future, but I think when more regular people get bit by this issue, there will be more of a backlash.

"Nobody likes it."

Oh, I'm pretty sure the content providers taking your $140 like it fine.

When companies try to force consumers down a given road, that's when you should start up the road-making equipment and go for the joy of forcing YOUR equipment to do as YOU please.
In other words, hack your iphone, ps, xbox, mobile phone, etc. Don't take the crap you're offered, make things work for YOU not the big corporations.

"I have nobody to blame but myself, I suppose. DRM sucks, but it's unavoidable and arguably the future, in the form of ubiquitious consumer devices like the Xbox 360 and iPhone."

This is such a cop-out. The future is screwing over the companies that screw over users. The very least you can do is try to resist.

Regards
Fake

DRM is the reason why almost every owner of XBox 360 and PS3 in Singapore plays only pirated games on modded consoles. Even players who are willing to shell out bucks for legitimate PC games got turned off by draconian content-protection measures.

They won't admit it, but the reason why MS and Sony can even sell a single console here is because it is possible to (illegally) mod them. Ironic. DRM is allowing piracy to proliferate.

Personally, I only buy music on physical medium without DRM, eg. plain audio CDs.

Jeff, as an alternative to buying the Xbox wireless adapter, I would suggest buying a Linksys WRT54-GL router and using it in wireless bridge mode. I hooked up two of these devices (one in bridge mode and one as an AP) and serve all of my entertainment center with internet access at once.

All you have to do is download one of the many excellent third-party firmwares.

I suggest either tomato or dd-wrt, they both can support a router in wireless bridge mode.

Why not use a Steam like system as used by Valve. It wouldn't solve all the problems but it definitely is an improvement. You still have to login and validate your account to use the content, but in my opinion it's still orders of magnitude better than to pay twice for the content.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet or not, but I've played Half-Life games from about 8 different computers by now, and only had to purchase them once.

Anywhere I go, as long as I can connect to the internet, I can play any game I want that I purchased through Steam. Granted I have to either have the disk I bought from the store, or just download the game, but still, I can download it 100 times a day if I want to 100 different computers, and as long as I login with my account I can play it. However, only one computer can play a game at a time. I think Steam has gotten it right.

Ok, what are the odds of that? Two people posting basically the exact same thing at the same time... Just took me longer to type mine in...

wow, you're amazingly retarded

DRM is an ignored "feature" until your wallet gets stung. Then there's a "never again" experience. People don't listen or pay attention ahead of time, but you cost them $100+ for no apparent reason and you have their attention. This "feature" won't last forever, because consumers will begin avoiding those products. Only products with a unique experience will be able to get away with it. Even then DRM will keep some from buying. Right now, the numbers look great. Lockin to your hearts content!

Isn't this really a bit of a non-issue though?

I personally don't have a problem with taking my memory card with my live profile on between any xboxes that I use. Let's face it, my live profile IS my identity.

I think that you are maybe among a minority in having two profiles that you sign into live with.

Anyway, I think that you should get some work done instead of playing Rock Band all the time!

Jeff, it may take some time, but I think TUR (digital rights management is merely a euphemism for "technological usage restrictions", and should be replaced with its true meaning) is a dead end. Eventually, enough end-users will refuse to buy nearly anything that is usage-restricted, which will force any surviving hardware and content companies to wise up.

Ever since the atrocious "copyguard" of VHS tapes, content companies have been using TUR to prevent theft and to cause end-users to repurchase the same content for use on other hardware.

I'm not a gamer myself, but if I was going to buy a console, the least usage-restricted platform would be most likely to get my dollars.

Jeff commented:

> I think the iPhone and Xbox 360 are such compelling consumer products that it's actually a reasonable tradeoff to live with their DRM lock-in limitations.

Thats only a "reasonable tradeoff" for a while... then the only choices left will be DRM. If the mass market decides that DRM devices are OK, you won't get to choose non-DRM devices.

And, God forbid, if companies decide that they don't need general purpose computers, but that a DRM "green screen" type system is OK, then you won't get to choose a general purpose computer.

This is all or nothing. If the general purpose computer dies we all loose, and we won't get to go back.

This is absolutely one of my biggest pet peeves with my beloved 360.

I discovered this groovy DRM model when I purchased additional Oblivion content.

Shortly after I played it and acquired some new items, I purchased a brand new HDTV that was out of the reach of my home WiFi network.

Not thinking twice about it I brought all of my equipment downstairs and plugged into my new TV and upon startup, Oblivion was "unable to verify content downloaded". I could not play my content because it could not be validated online.

During the latest XBL outage many users could not play their new content because the network was unable to validate it.

Its a completely gimped model to an otherwise excellent console. It drives me crazy.

If I understand you correctly, you're confusing the iPod, the hands down winning music device, with the iTunes Music Store, the DRM-ed music store. iPods are here to stay. DRM is not. The canary in the coal mine is the Amazon Music Store. It's the complete capitulation of the labels on the issue of DRM.

It's also the inauguration of the MP3 price wars. iTMS sells DRM'ed AAC for a buck, and now non-DRM'ed for the same price (though not the whole catalog); Amazon sells non-DRM'ed for slightly less. Amazon is a no-brainer to me, the informed consumer. And because the cost of duplication is so low, the only thing preventing a race to the bottom is the Big 4 monopoly. And the labels are definitely wising up.

In 5 years, there won't be any music DRM left.

Incidentally, if you have to buy tons of DRM'ed music from Apple, why not invest in a spindle of CDs and burn, then reimport your songs as MP3? You only have to do it once.

None of you are thinking like the average consumer. My kid sister doesn't care if the music she buys has DRM or not, she wants the song, she buys it, and it plays on her iPod without any problems.

The average Xbox 360 user has no issues with buying things from Live and playing them on their box. In fact they probably never take the Xbox from their house, or even conciously think of using their profile on someone else's box.

Bottom line, the people reading this blog may care about DRM and all the impacts that come with it, but the average consumer (which probably accounts for 90+ percent of consumers) could care less about the copy protection as long as it works like they expect it to, and since they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary everything just works, it works well, and they are content.

Microsoft's approach to XBox DRM is typical of Microsoft: Over done with little comprehension of how it might affect the user. This is the company that foisted Clippy on us for years, and then proceeded with each release of Microsoft Office to make it harder and more difficult to shut him off. When Microsoft gets an earwig of an idea lodged into their brains, they practically drop everything else and work on the idea until it makes the Mandelbrot set look simple in comparison.

Someone at Microsoft thought "Hey, we have to have DRM on the XBox, so people can buy games over the Internet, and not share them with everyone. Otherwise, all the gaming companies will refuse to make XBox games. I wonder how complex and unpleasant I can make our DRM implementation?"

As far as DRM goes, iTunes probably has the most "reasonable". You can take a DRM tune and burn it DRM free into an Audio or MP3 CD. This can then be played in a car, stereo, or even uploaded back into iTunes as a DRM free song. Plus, you can share your music with up to 5 other iTunes instances -- even over the Internet. Also, about 25% to 30% of the songs on iTunes are now sold without DRM and for the same 99 cents. Unfortunately, the same cannot be done with movies or TV shows.

I don't think DRM is the future. As the music industry is quickly finding out, it simply doesn't work. Honest users who wouldn't dream of stealing the content find their lives made miserable with the DRM while pirates easily strip the DRM off and make gobs of money. That's why more and more music is being sold without DRM.

Hmm, I've been through 4 XBox 360s. Each one has been replaced by Microsoft.

I've got several downloaded games that I purchased through my XBox Live account. However, they work just fine for my son's profile even when my live account is not logged in on the new machines.

This seems to contradict your statement that the live account needs to be logged in for the downloads to work. Perhaps the live account only needs to be installed on the machine, but not necessarily active.

I don't let my son log in with my live account so that he can't go off and purchase more points, or download anything I don't want him to.

As others have pointed out, DRM only works as long as 1. people don't get stung by it, and 2. there is no viable alternative. As soon as #1 happens then people will flock to #2 and resent the DRM as a needless waste. And of course those who want to find a way to defeat the DRM will eventually do so one way or another.

Patrick Moynihan once famously wrote that "Secrecy is for losers." Well, "DRM is for losers." It's the strategy you take when you're furiously trying to hold on to something that is slipping away. It is not a strategy for the future, for future markets, for future profits.

First off: Of all the blogs I read, yours is the only one I read every day, no exceptions.

That said, "I have nobody to blame but myself," isn't right. When we don't know how to use badly designed devices, who is to blame, the user or the designer? If DRM is necessary (a proposition I don't agree with), then at least these companies should be bending over backwards to make it as painless as possible for their customers.

Of all the points you made in this post, that is the one I had to comment on and disagree with. You're definitely not the one to blame here, Jeff. ( =

I can't believe your a 360 fan. :-(

I have to totally disagree with you on this one. DRM is a dead technology. Its the record industries last hope to hold on to its antique ways of doing business. Artist barely see any of that money. The record industry has been so focused on physical product shipments, that they lost there way and should have been investing in artist development.

The PS3 is the better buy as I see it. Just look at all the features you get with 80G version. Plus there HOME online network is going to crush 360's. Hell the hardware is reason enough to get it. My PS3 boots up in 2 SECONDS!!!! That faster than my PS2! Now that's progress. Plus the speed and performance just kills the 360. If you want to keep your media DRM free just setup your PC as a media server and the PS3 will pick it right up. You can than stream all your media that way. Plus they just updated the PS3 codecs which supports a boat load of formats including DivX.

Here's to hoping you don't get the RED RING OF DEATH!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems

Oh Jeff, you sucker. You bought into the instant gratification syndrome inherent in geeks. If you could have waited, you could have bought a Wii and gotten Rock Band PLUS Samba De Amigo. ;)

DRM is truly the future, as long as naive users do what you have done: Buy the same things twice.

I myself once bought such a rigid DRM-item: It was Half-Life 2. But at that time it was without competition - since then i never again bought such tight-bonded software or data, because i simply don't wan't to establish or support such a rigid regime.

DRM makes life not easier, but more expensive and frustrating. My audio-CD data could be copied with ease, i could use it in my car, in my iPod, Notebook, simply everywhere. With growing competition, DRM will fade, as it is just now in the online-music-market. If i can choose, i will prefer data without DRM, of course.

Jeff: why don't you ask for advice or help from your readers? I have never seen you do this. I read other bloggers who are proficient in their fields but still post about their issues/problems and see what readers come up with.

You, on the other hand, always post about your findings or ideas... after the fact.. after you made the wrong choice. You act like you always know more than anyone else. Hop down from up there.

Since when does DRM have anything to do with the iPhone?

DRM is the commerical hijacking of copyright law into gaining lock-in control over the consumer through lobbying and propaganda. It is both an unfair attack on the consumer and proven to not be necessary for the viability of a market.

Personally, I voice my protest by modding my 360 and physically backing up my games in the name of fair use.

If you think this is stealing, consider this: If you're paying twice for the same thing, who is really getting robbed?

Totally not related, but I also recently got a 360 (I'm pretty happy with it), and I just want to mention: if you like first-person shooters at all, you really must get BioShock. It's incredible. The thinking man's shooter.

The content is definitely tied to the console and not the hard drive. If you only have one gamertag in your household, it might appear that it's attached to the hard drive because your profile is allowing you to play (or you being signed in while your friend's profile is running is allowing you to play). Wait until you have a cranky wife who can't play Zuma because you're on the replacement console and you took your profile on a memory card over to a friend's house.

The reason Microsoft tells you to keep your hard drive and all of your peripherals when sending your broken console in is that they don't want to remove all of the peripherals and send them all back to you, not because the hard drive has anything to do with the DRM.

I'm on my fourth replacement console now and have gone through three "fixes" for this DRM problem. The first two times, I had to create a new gamertag which Microsoft credited with enough points to re-purchase all my content. They called it "Points After Repair." This latest/third time, they have a new process where you're supposed to just be able to re-download your content after they flip some bits on their end, but it's not fast - I've been waiting four months now and still can't play my stuff without being signed on to Xbox Live (not just signed on, but actually logged into the network too - no offline play).

Blogged the whole thing. You can start here and work backwards: http://www.paraesthesia.com/archive/2008/01/28/status-on-xbox-live-drm-and-dashboard-problems.aspx

i miss the days when a gaming console is just that, a gaming console.

i picked xbox360 over ps3 because of the games it offers. ps3 is seriously lacking any good titles now.

my fav x360 game is Mass Effect. superbly done.

"In the end, I broke down and re-purchased 11,240 MS Points worth of Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, and Rock Band songs through my personal Xbox Live profile on my home Xbox 360. If you're keeping score at home that's $140.50 in real money. To buy the exact same content. Again."

So you encourage their monopolistic lockdown by buying it all twice? People (like you) who just complain about it but then cave in and spend money are part of the problem, not the solution. It doesn't encourage them to do anything other than continue their current practices.

I hate to sound like a jerk, but I really think that's the case.

DRM doesn't have to be inevitable. It certainly shouldn't be. But it will be if you keep funding it!

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about how the 360's DRM is affected by the repair process. The overall description in Jeff's original post about how the DRM works is correct. However, if you send a broken console in to Microsoft support, they will somehow update the licenses or key so all your content will work normally on the replacement. In general, the replacement process should be completely transparent.

I think the confusion around this comes from the facts that 1) this wasn't always the case, and 2) it's still possible that the update won't work for whatever reason. If you get a console back from support and your DRMed content doesn't work offline or with other profiles, you need to call them again, and they can do something about it.

@Evan:

> I plan to play my NES and skip all this headache until the industry gets the proper business models figured out.

I seem to recall that in order to play games on my NES, I had to have these big gray plastic dongles with me -- and not just one, but a separate one for each game I wanted to play! What ridiculous DRM! :-)

You disgust me!

What kind of an ass-kissing attitude is that? DRM is inevitable... pfffft.....

A little off topic, but pertinent is my opinion on THE COSTS OF DRM - ultimately the problem of studios, artists, etc.

I don't think Jeff would have that much complaining if he had to re-purchase his media for $20 versus $140.

It is my personal opinion that if Amazon sold albums for $5, millions of more people would legitimately purchase the albums versus sharing. Studios happy, people happy. Sounds too simple huh?

Look what Radiohead did, when people were asked to "pay what they want" for the latest album, the average price paid for album? Around $4, not a coincidence. That's the pulse of what people deem as reasonable.

Brings me to my final thought, DRM security is more like a lockdown (As Jeff found out) since the console makers are having to police against non-purchased copies, but I don't see this as even a thought if the costs were more reasonable.

I am experiencing the same type of "Lockdown" with my Verizon phone. EVERYTHING has to be purchased through them, no exceptions. (At monopoly type rates)

Nice post, but

why did you re-buy everthing?
Stand up and say no to this bullcrap...

Jeff, Maybe you are doing things differently than I am, but I own two 360's, an elite and a launch premium. The things you are suggesting already exist. All purchases are tied to your profile. PERIOD. They are not tied to the HD or the box. What you need to do is purchase a memory unit. Copy your profile to the unit and then you can use content anywhere you are playing using the memory unit and signed into xbox live from the memory unit. Of course you could always copy important downloads to the memory unit to go with you as well. The downside of it is to have to redownload content again (which if you are signed into live, you won't be charged again). Once purchased your content stays yours and your profile authorizes that content to be downloaded again anytime with full rights to that content as long as you are signed in. Sorry, you blew a bunch of money.

Wait, are you saying you actually have two profiles? A work one and a home one? Besides being a huge waste of time and money that completely defeats the entire purpose of a profile, plus you've destroyed any ability to have bragging rights on your gamerscore since you're splitting achievements between the two. You know, it's the important things in life :)

While having to cart your profile around is a very slight inconvenience it's really the best way I can see to prevent rampant cheating. If it was any easier to move your profile around you'd have a huge number of people inflating their score and sharing Live accounts.

This also isn't a DRM issue, it's simply authorization, no different than the hardware dongles many corporations require their VPN users to use.

DRM Ignorance may be expensive, but in your case there was little ignorance involved. You understood your options (schlepp the memory card back-n-forth or pay for a second set of DRM'ed content).

You took the expensive route by choice, not by ignorance; or are you saying that if you understood all this DRM complexity up-front before you bought the xbox you wouldn't have bought it?

Are you sure it's per-system as well as per-account?

I got Geometry Wars - Full Game to download on a friend's 360 after activating my Live account on his system. Ran just fine as long as my account was on his system.
Since I was only visiting, I, of course, transferred my account back to my system; killing the copy of Geometry Wars on his box.
...but, it still worked.

Of course, different downloads can have different DRM restrictions. But, if GH and RB are actually limited per-system, then that just makes their downloadable content less viable purchases IMO.

Oh, ok Jeff. This post was worthless. You spend $140 on DRM encumbered leased content for a video game, get totally f'ed over, re-buy the content, bitch about it on your blog, and then conclude that DRM is inevitable and we need to just bend over and take it. You are a spaghetti spined hypocrite.

Isn't this a blog about programming?

There is actually a way around this: Datel's Xbox 360 Transfer Kit allows you to copy an image of a memory card. I simply moved my profile from my hard drive to a memory card using the kit, then used the software to make an backup image of the card. Move the profile on the card back to your 360's hard drive and then copy the image back to the memory card. Now you have a copy of your profile on the hard drive AND the memory card. You can take your memory card to work and move a copy over to that 360. Rinse and repeat as necessary, or just make a few copies of your profile on some memory cards to leave in your car, EDC bag or backpack, etc. for any situations where you might bump into a 360 and want to play.

I've currently got my profile on my home 360 as well as a few of my friends' consoles, and any DLC I've paid for once will download to any of the consoles and run perfectly since I'm downloading it with a known gamertag. The transfer kit's driver support is pretty clunky and it only works with the older 64 MB memory cards, but if all you are interested in is making a backup of your profile, it works well enough: http://www.amazon.com/Intec-DUS0150-I-Xbox-360-Transfer/dp/B000G02KGG/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1202325184&sr=8-1

"I've purchased lots of downloadable content on the Xbox 360 at work, primarily new songs for Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, and Rock Band."

"in light of my Rock Band addiction"

What sort of work do you do?

Mike;)

> Stand up and say no to this bullcrap...

I'm sorry, but I simply can't say no to the pure joy that is Rock Band. Where are the free open source alternatives? (that don't take a week to set up and configure)

> Isn't this a blog about programming?

Last time I checked, DRM is related to programming. If you look up the people responsible for enforcing DRM in code, I think you'll find.. programmers.

> What sort of work do you do?

Oh, I don't know.. perhaps THIS KIND?!

http://visitmix.com/blogs/News/437/

Jeff said:[stuff]

I heard: "Xbox360 at work".

Nice.

Jeff you definetely made the right choice on the 360. I thought that I could tough it out as well owning just a 360. However, the siren songs of Gran Turismo 5 and Metal Gear Solid 4 coming this year and the gimped 40gb PS3 that lacks backwards compatibility (BC) plus the spotty 80gb's software BC convinced me otherwise, so I sprung for a 60gb last summer.
By the way can anyone explain why with software emulation on the 360 and ps3 that developers create a emulation profile for EACH AND EVERY GAME. Silly. It just makes more sense to me to make a profile that imitates the hardware(cpu, gpu, controllers, motherboard, etc) and have the games interface to the emulated hardware profile than try to create profiles for thousands of games. My 2 cents.

Man your getting a lot of heat for this one Jeff.

I think you might have stepped out a little to far of your, comfortable programmer cubicle, this time.

DRM obviously is a very touchy subject. ;-)

http://visitmix.com/blogs/News/437/

Firefox is sad when it visits this page.

My second reaction to your earlier 'Freedom Zero' post was along the lines that you allude to here. Isn't the most important issue here what I'm allowed (or able) to do with my content? I care less about the hardware lock-in, since all hardware will eventually need replacement.

I use Linux at home, and realised that one of the more important reasons I use Linux is that I can do pretty much what I want with the content* I have, thus leading me to my second reaction.

Note that I have no urge to freely distribute others' content, but I do believe that if I purchase an album (for example), regardless of the medium I purchase it on, I should be able to rip, mix, burn, backup and view as I choose, for my personal use. I also believe that I should only have to purchase content once.

* True, it means that I don't have access to all the content out there, but that kinda reinforces my point here, I think.

> I hate to be the one to tell you but if you just would've phoned Microsoft
> they give you keycodes to re-download the content.
> You didn't need to buy it again.

Yes, he did. MS will not issue codes to re-download it if the original console still works.

MS will perform a "license transfer" for people whose machines are sent to Microsoft for repair, but some people have waited three months (even six months) for this to happen. There's 140+ pages of discussion about this here: http://forums.xbox.com/143/17044887/ShowPost.aspx .

I discovered this problem after, unfortunately, spending money to get some MS Points (including some gift points from someone). I still have 5300 points remaining.

MS already has my money, but I'm loathe to actually buy anything should the console break and I get screwed as thousands of others have and as discussed in the thread I linked to already. But MS already has my money - I'm just effectively withholding it from content producers at this point. So I'm not sure what to do. :-P

I don't understand the DRM/iPhone complaints. What DRM? The lack of an open API (that's going to be, hopefully, resolved soon)? That's not DRM.

P.S. Gamertag is erikjb - I sent you a friend request.

Now that I revisit this and think a little harder, you are contributing heavily to the problem, and as someone with a little bit more steam than me, I'd much rather see you get in Microsoft's face on this one.

DRM isn't the way to go on anything. Software/Media companies wouldn't have so many problems (problems, ha, I don't see them going without food) with piracy if they weren't such evil, moneygrubbing bastards themselves. Take, for instance, DVDs. At the time that DVDs came around, I think the average VHS pricepoint for a new relase was about $15. Now DVDs are nothing more than some mylar on a plastic disc, certainly much cheaper to manufacture than a big, clunky VHS complete with moving parts. Not to mention the fact that since everything is produced digitally, movie companies are probably saving billions on film, editing time, and special effects. Now, does this translate to lower prices for the consumer? Nope, not at all, as a matter of fact, a bigger profit margin through cheaper manufacture wasn't enough, on average DVDs were at least $5 more expensive than VHS tapes. Why is this? Because the publishers knew they could get away with perceived value. DVDs are new and upcoming, and therefore inherently more valuable. The same thing is happening with Blu-Ray now. I wouldn't hold my breath for the day that Blu-Ray movies cost an average $20 for new releases. I'd bet on $25 being the new standard price.

Now you take the software companies, who now have the option to distribute software via the internet. You would think that removing manufacturing/packaging/shipping from the costs would translate to the consumer, but nope, they cost exactly the same, except for Microsoft products, which actually have the gall to cost MORE(again, perceived value, not actual value). This is pure insanity. The free-market system as we used to know it is completely dead in todays hyperactive global economy. The same thing has been happening to gas for years. Oil companies are reporting record profits every year and shutting down refineries because they have so much fuel, but the price keeps going up and up, because the demand is completely fixed.

I don't know what the solution to all of this is, but I know I don't like it, and I know I'm not shedding a single tear over anyone in Hollywood who is losing their new mink coat because a 13 year old just downloaded their latest song rather than paying $15 to get a CD that cost $.05 to make and really only has that one good song on it.

Like Travis (a few comments up), I've been waiting for MONTHS now for other profiles on my console to be able to play games we paid for. Also like Travis, I blogged about it [1].

Unlike you (Jeff), I'm not OK with just re-purchasing that content.

In my case, it's mostly an issue with XBL Arcade games. I've paid for a LOT of games that my daughter and wife both like to play (neither of them play any games that ship on media). Once my console went belly-up and I got a replacement, their profiles could no longer play those games (they appear in Trial mode)... note to other commenters, this is with the same hard drive -- the license is tied to the console's ID.

Not only can they not play those titles, but my profile can't play them either unless I'm connected to XBL. No problem as I'm typically connected, right? Except when the service is suffering outages as it did over the holidays. Then, nobody can get at those titles. Their compensation for that downtime? Another XBL Arcade game. Ironic.

I've called a few times and never get past "we're working on it, should happen in 2-4 weeks"... that's been the case since October. I'm a Microsoft developer, manage development for a .NET shop, a former MVP, and usually a fan of their stuff -- but this issue disgusts me.

I can honestly say it just makes me all-around grumpy about the Xbox 360. I certainly won't be buying any more XBL content until it gets resolved and I don't play it as much these days because it's irritating to think of the "locked" content we've paid for that's sitting there and can't be used.

This is the company that makes SQL Server -- but I've been waiting for them to change the console ID on my XBL account for roughly five months now.

[1]
http://jeff.donnici.com/PermaLink,guid,0b89ff65-8f0d-44a7-94a0-01bffeeefad9.aspx
and
http://jeff.donnici.com/PermaLink,guid,98b029ad-d6c1-431d-9f57-191d066af3da.aspx
and
http://jeff.donnici.com/PermaLink,guid,7f0e910d-1c41-4b67-998e-67ebbb981d7f.aspx

The only way I was able to get any traction (not GREAT traction, but traction of some nature) was to email Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb - http://www.majornelson.com/) directly with my myriad confirmation numbers and a summary of my tribulations. That at least got my issue escalated to someone who sounds like they can do something about it. (It also got me the contact info directly to that support person's desk, so I don't have to wade through the phone tree and request a supervisor, etc.)

They even had an open letter to Microsoft about this in Official Xbox Magazine (http://www.oxmonline.com/article/features/presses/six-resolutions-microsoft-2008).

Maybe more people need to raise a stink to Major Nelson and others like him. This seems to be one of those problems that everyone is vaguely aware of but no one really cares until it directly affects them, at which point it's too late.

drm COMPLIANCE is expensive.

Fixed that for you.

The main problem with DRM is exactly these types of issues: punishing the legitimate customers in the hopes of stopping the people that aren't going to pay for your content anyway. It really shouldn't be that hard for them to fix the issues when you get a replacement system, as they should be able to update the hardware ID in their database when they send the new system out to you.

As for using the same content on two systems, obviously you're SOL as long as you continue to support DRM that requires you to be online to utilize the content you purchased. It doesn't really matter whether you're talking about music, movies, TV shows, or video games. The problems (and many of the solutions) have been the same for decades, and only seem to come to light for the majority when those devoted to the field have gone through 50 iterations of irate rants and hassles, or have gotten accustomed to open content.

I still buy CDs and rip my music rather than downloading music because I don't trust DRM schemes (and feel the quality of most downloaded music is pathetic). As much as possible I avoid software with keys because I have a number of purchased applications and games that I can't find keys for (thankfully many print them on the disc or the manual or back of the case; don't even get me started on the weird stuff it takes to get games to work from the 80s and early 90s). The idea of hooking up a movie server in my living room and ripping all of the DVDs in my house (especially my daughter's Disney movies, many of which can't be purchased new legally right now), is in a legal black hole right now due to the power of the entertainment lobbies in Congress to extend copyrights and get new laws passed preventing decryption of the content on a disc I bought.

Microsoft has a lot of money sunk into DRM, and they still can't get it to the point that many legitimate users are inconvenienced. Between the XBox and XBox 360, the Zune, WMP, and their investment in HD-DVD, they've got a lot of reasons to try to get it right, but very little actual penalty for getting it wrong, because so many people have just accepted it and payed out more money after getting robbed by the system.

> I think the iPhone and Xbox 360 are such compelling consumer products that it's actually a reasonable tradeoff to live with their DRM lock-in limitations.
> ...
> I'm sorry, but I simply can't say no to the pure joy that is Rock Band. Where are the free open source alternatives? (that don't take a week to set up and configure)

If you value expedience and gimme-now over your freedom, you can't very well expect your freedom to remain.

DRM is only as inevitable as the willingness to accept it. You've shown us where you stand on that, thanks.

Mike quoth:

> To paraphrase: at least the rapist uses lube, and is gentle?
>
> You disgust me.

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

Best blog comment I've read in a long time.

> > To paraphrase: at least the rapist uses lube, and is gentle?
> >
> > You disgust me.
>
> Ouch! That's gotta hurt!
>
> Best blog comment I've read in a long time.

Agreed, and right on the money. The act of accepting DRM systems (especially the heinously broken ones) is giving up a small but very important freedom, and it becomes a very slippery slope to the next violation. DRM is http://defectivebydesign.org/ , and I struggle to find empathy for the masses who lap up crippled technology. Granted, the disinformation and hype that goes into covering up this scam is so overwhelming that it's not surprising that people get caught out. If you can stomach the idea (and it's hard with the reduction of choice that it entails), avoid anything produced by Microsoft and Sony for starters, and support vendors of open technology.

I only ask this of people because it affects everyone else in turn.

I can't believe you'd say this!!! The #1 reason why companies like Microsoft and Apple are able to implement tyrannical DRM like this is because of consumer apathy. However, you can't blame the average consumer for not being up-to-date on the tech industry's latest underhanded moneymaking schemes. But an A-list tech blogger like you?!!! I can't believe you'd just accept such a situation and pay $140 for all those songs again!! Each time you just give in, Microsoft and Apple will abuse your apathy to restrict usage even more, until consumers have absolutely no freedom. You should be very ashamed of yourself for promoting apathy in regards to DRM.

"I'm sorry, but I simply can't say no to the pure joy that is Rock Band."

Then don't complain about DRM. If you can't give up not even the game, the extra content, you obviously don't care about the issue as much as you make out. Pleasure over principles. I'm not saying it's not a valid option, but you can't have it both ways.

"Where are the free open source alternatives? (that don't take a week to set up and configure)"

You'd rather spend $140, AGAIN, than spend one week (if that, come on, it's not that bad) setting up an alternative _and_ make a point against DRM in the process?

"By the way can anyone explain why with software emulation on the 360 and ps3 that developers create a emulation profile for EACH AND EVERY GAME. Silly"

Because it's vital that the emulation be as perfect as possible. I can't see the code obviously, but I'm guessing they will have emulated the hardware, but they tweak everything to perfection with the profiles. They just don't let any game run on the generic hardware emulation because it may not work properly. If you've ever used an emulator post PS1/N64 you'll know that a generic approach, while workable, doesn't make for excellent emulation every time.

As with many others here I have a complete hatred of DRM. My hatred began after the first $100+ I spent on iTunes a few years ago only to find out that the music is essentially useless if I ever wanted to port it to a different platform.

Since then I haven't purchased a single bit of DRM content. Period.

With regards to music, I've recently discovered a great way of getting all the DRM free music you want at virtually no cost... my public library! The library even has an online reservation system where I can reserve up to 30 CD's at a time and they'll shoot me an email when they are ready to be picked up; usually within 24 hours.

Living DRM-Free :)

[QUOTE]Martin, as I've mentioned several times, downloaded content is tied to the Xbox 360 hardware signature (CPU, ethernet, etc-- the hard drive is removable and thus not a part of the signature) and the Xbox Live login the account was purchased under.

Buying and upgrading to an Elite is no different than getting a repaired console. All the same issues apply, transfer cable or not. See confirmation here:
[/QUOTE]

Jeff, after listening to all your replies, it sounds like the DRM'd content is basically just tied to the Xbox Live login, similar to DRM'd songs purchased from iTunes, since you are stating that transferring the content from machine to machine works fine as long as you use the correct Xbox Live login.

Personally, I try to stay as far away from DRM as I possibly can, I just hate the fact that others control what I can and cannot do with what I've paid for.

"I paid for this basketball, don't tell me I can't use it unless it's on _your_ basketball courts."

Consider the people sitting around the table when a company like Microsoft or Apple decides to implement a DRM scheme. There are the developers and architects that just might understand how difficult the problem is and how brittle the eventual implementation will be. Then add accountanting, marketing, and the voracious negotiators from the content providers. Stuff everyone's agenda and the technology into a Blendtec (http://www.willitblend.com/) and - voila! - a gallon of warm, soupy $#1t.

Once they have your money, nothing matters to them. You get stuck with the contents of the Blendtec.

If XBL is such a value-add, why not "fail open" with the DRM? That is, if the auth server is inaccessible, then assume auth succeeded and let the user play. Sure, someone could (conceivably) pirate a game and unplug the box from the network each time they wanted to play it, sort of like rolling back the clock to use time-limited demos. It's inconvenient and retarded, but hey, if you have the time and attention span to do that, have fun - chances are you're not going to buy anything anyway.

However, anyone who maintains online services knows there are a million reasons why a random user can't get to a service - their hardware or software broke or got misconfigured, some jackass started digging without calling the 1-800 number first, any of the ISPs or NSPs between them and XBL dropped the ball, or the nice people running XBL got a bad batch of crack and turned off their pagers to watch "Beauty and the Geek". The service _will_ go dark for some number of customers, hardware _will_ fail, especially first-generation machines. Users _will_ be affected; _how_ they will be affected is a software design decision.

It's not like these problems are new. Think of electronic door locks as a form of digital rights management - a computer decides if you have the right to go through a door. How does the system respond if there's a fire or loss of power? Do you lock all the doors and leave the people trapped inside to fend for themselves a la Cocoanut Grove (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire) or do you accept the risk that some people will leave without paying their bill while the system is down?

Designing a robust DRM system that consumers perceive as fair is a herculean task; doing so under the direction of nontechnical stakeholders is nigh-impossible. What you end up with is a trainwreck that rewards the greedy at the expense of the unfortunate, a thoroughly 19th-century situation.

I can almost understand Jeff's attachment to Rock Band; Katamari Damacy kept me sane through the waning months of 2004 and reintroduced me to console gaming after a 15 year hiatus. Still, he gets everything he deserves by buying into the DRM paradigm - heads, they win; tails, you lose.

Hopefully most people will finally begin to understand what we from the Free Software Foundation have been saying for quite a while now.

http://defectivebydesign.org/

Jeff wrote:

> I think the iPhone and Xbox 360 are such compelling consumer
> products that it's actually a reasonable tradeoff to live with
> their DRM lock-in limitations.

I think you're a complete idiot.

And I thought the 'spaghetti spined hypocrite' comment was highly appropriate as well.

I think some people are being a bit harsh on Jeff. We all wrestle with this issue when we make purchasing decisions. He's hardly a hypocrite for buying and enjoying DRM'd products and then not appreciating how they restrict his use. All of us watch DVD movies and they come with unpleasant DRM which we try to overlook. Music CD's would be DRM'd to death if it weren't for the nagging problem of backwards compatibility with the millions of existing music players. Each new generation of media will be worse and worse until we decide to change the way we work with creative content (e.g. our copyright laws). I think Gilberto Gil's ideas make a lot of sense:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/17562/

He also proposed a cultural tax which would allow all citizens to access any media (CD/DVD/Books,etc) that they want and the artist would be compensated when someone accessed their work.

> You'd rather spend $140, AGAIN, than spend one week
> (if that, come on, it's not that bad) setting up an alternative
> _and_ make a point against DRM in the process?

What alternative? Last I checked there wasn't one. Two Xboxes require two copies of the content, unless he wants to port his profile back and forth AND sign online from home. Which, really, isn't that bad. The wireless adapter and the memory unit would cost less than the $140 you re-spent, and that's if you don't just wire it in and save the $99.

But something tells me that's not the "alternative" you were suggesting. What is your alternative?

> With regards to music, I've recently discovered a great
> way of getting all the DRM free music you want at
> virtually no cost... my public library!

So if you keep the music beyond the return date (in any form), you've become a thief. Congrats.

As for Bob's "fail open" and "they wouldn't pay anyway" stance, I agree. It's the stance we took in developing our software. Easy to use registration codes but no effort spent maintaining blacklists or anything else. If someone wanted to pirate our software, they likely weren't a customer anyway. We focused on making our software easy to buy.

Kind of like how Steve Jobs positioned the iTunes Music Store against the wild and woolly world of pirating music. :-P

Oh, and "fail open" won't work on a repaired Xbox, of course. Such users shouldn't have to unplug their network cable every time they want to play their content, and it would preclude them from playing other people over the Internet by definition (unless they're the original purchasing Gamertag, of course).

The DRM system isn't the only thing that is broken about the 360 & Live. You also can't change the country on your Live billing details. The credit card you use also has to have the same address.

So if you immigrate to a different country (like I did), when your Live subscription runs out you're boned. And if you want to buy points you have to buy the cards in retail stores which are usually more expensive than using a credit card with the integrated Marketplace store.

It is all just super fecking dumb.

come on Jeff...when Microsoft was creating their DRM for XBOX they never in a million years expected one person would use TWO XBOXes. You really are msoft's wet dream!

I'd love to be able to use the Amazon DRM-free store. However it only seems to be available to US residents. I only buy the EMI iTunes Plus content from Apple. And I certainly wont be renting any movies off them if they ever bring that service to Australia.

Also, I replaced my 360 via a 3rd party warranty (suckers) after the DVD drive failed and I've been able to use my downloaded content pretty seamlessly because I'm always logged into Live.

Obviously if I can't do that (because they have some stupid outage again or something) or if I ever had more than one Gamer profile on the System it could pose more of a problem.

Not to mention the fact that when the next XBOX (the 720?) is released none of the content will be able to be transfered to the new device. And eventually the Live old service will be retired essentially ending your ability to play your old games on your old console.

On the whole, its just a bit shit.

I see a lot of people who are bashing iTunes for their DRM. I haven't checked myself, but I was under the impression that iTunes finally 'got it' and now provides DRM free music? (started as 25 cents more, but I heard its the same price now)

I have no issue with protecting content from being distributed, but I wish they could figure out a DRM that works like my CD's did. If I buy something, I should own it. I should be able to put it on all my computers, and any future computers I buy. I am sick of the 'you are allowed to use it' model that current DRM offers.

I just want to point out that I've never viewed the Xbox 360 as a particularly "compelling consumer product", and my personal disinterest goes back to long before I ever knew about the DRM issues. Content restrictions or not, it's just another way to waste time, and I've got more than enough of those already.

I understand the "pure joy" that *you* receive from playing Rock Band, but please don't elevate that into a general trend, especially one that justifies the absurdities I've heard about with the X360.

Some of us would rather play an actual instrument. You pay once and you can take it anywhere you want - amazing! It does tend to be a little more difficult than just mashing buttons, but it's also far more satisfying.

So I think the biggest thing here is that no one realizes that we've done this to ourselves (Not necessarily us directly, but us as a computer using whole). There are 2 parts to the issue

1) If you don't like DRM; go buy the CD. No one is stopping/forcing you to do either.
2) If we hadn't had so many people that tried to pass music as being free; we wouldn't have the media industry trying to combat it.

This is much like Communism; it works, but only in theory! Selling a song on iTunes without any DRM would be nice (although I really could care less either way) but many people would buy the song then give it to all their friends. All of a sudden you have 100 people that own the song and the people who made the music only got paid for one person buying it. My point is that yes, someone out there is controlling something you own; isn't that how Microsoft has been for years though?

The media industry rolled without any type of DRM for years, but once people found ways to redistribute music/games/etc... online for free; that kinda put a dent in their plan. We can't all blame the media industry; and I'm tired of hearing stories of "My buddy got caught by the RIAA with like 100k in songs. Now he's gotta get a lawyer and blah blah blah" Well he was breaking the law... I see no problem punishing that person since that person is the one responsible for my favorite artists not getting paid and not making more albums because they can't afford to be artists anymore.

Let me conclude by saying that yes DRM is a pain in the butt. No one will argue with that; if your box crashes etc... you can't use the things you bought because your box isn't the same. But still, one could make the argument that if you download the content then move to another machine and download it again. That original box STILL would have a copy on the harddrive and would be able to be ripped (since the drive is SATA). And doing this would mean, that the person owning the machine that ripped the content would be able to pass it on to others? It seems to me that Microsoft has thought of this problem already (whether by choice I don't know), and have decided to keep the game businesses in business.

Point: If we all gave copies of media to our friends, the entire media would stop making things. They wouldn't be able to afford it anymore.

I'm confused. If you're playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band at home and work, one of these two must be true:

1) You are schlepping guitars, drum set, mic, cables, game discs, etc. back and forth, in which case schlepping a little memory card shouldn't be a big deal. I'm guessing that the XBox developers expected users to typically buy one copy of a game and carry that around to different systems so also carrying around a memory card wouldn't be a problem.

2) You purchased a second set of guitars, drum set, mic, cables, game discs, etc., in which case having to purchase a second set of downloadable content shouldn't seem too out of line.

In either case, it doesn't seem like Microsoft's downloadable content policy is too unusual or unreasonable.

Two things I don't like about the policy:

1) The issue with losing access to content if you change hardware. It's a pretty common scenario for a family to share an XBox with profiles for each family member. It's ridiculous that replacing faulty hardware or upgrading the hard drive invalidates sharing of downloads.

2) That you have to physically carry around the memory card with the profile. I'm a member of the Rhapsody music service. If I log on to Rhapsody from one computer, then log on from a different computer, the first computer is automatically logged off and can no longer stream music. It doesn't seem unreasonable that XBox Live could have a similar approach where you could associate the same profile with multiple XBoxes and it simply logs you off if you try to use it on more than one at the same time.

"I think the iPhone and Xbox 360 are such compelling consumer products that it's actually a reasonable tradeoff to live with their DRM lock-in limitations."

Jeff, i disagree that the tradeoffs are reasonable.

Part of the appeal I have for console games over computer games is the game is actually on a physical disk and, in the past, doesn't require any installation on the machine. While this seems limiting to require a physical item, it is important to realize the consequences of it.

With a physical disk you can loan it to a friend, resell it, or trade it. You can even take it back it it's crap. Over the years gaming I've bought lots of over hyped lame games.

The reason you cant take back computer games is once they are installed, you have the bits, no going back.

While I <3 my hacked iPhone. It's a great gadget. The Apple DRM is too limiting and I refuse to buy music from Apple because of it. If the only mp3s you could put on the phone were Apple purchased only, i wouldn't have one.

An other appeal many iPhone owners have is the ability to use existing songs as ringtones. Which Apple goes back and forth with :/

Ringtones are a pet peave to many owners though. I know I'm not paying for a song a second time to use it as a ring tone, it gives free word of mouth exposure of the music. I feel that is payment enough. Other phones are more restricting though, both in music and ringtones.

The limitations of DRM are just too much for me to be interested in digital media.

"Point: If we all gave copies of media to our friends, the entire media would stop making things. They wouldn't be able to afford it anymore."

I mostly disagree and think the only people that should be punished are mass distributors.

1. Artists get paid 1$ if that per album. They make there money on shows and merchandising. The money in the industry is all in the distribution and the artist sees very little of this. The record labels are the ones that make the big bucks here.

2. Record labels falsely believe they lose money when a person listens to freely downloaded music. Many just simply would not have purchased the album and thus not ever listened to it. Those that download music participate in the perpetuation of the music's meme. They talk about the band and songs, they like this, don't like that. All contributing to word of mouth exposure.

Side note - I think you've got DRM wrong. It should read Digital Restrictions Management, or that's at least what it looks like to me.

An important point that always gets forgotten in these bitch-fights: You can BURN from itunes and play in your car, or reburn, etc etc. That is hardly lock-down alcatraz-style DRM now, is it?

Also, iTunes is slowly stripping DRM from their music, so it is clearly not a DRM future for Apple. Movies will follow one day, mark my orange words.

Dave said:
2) That you have to physically carry around the memory card with the profile. I'm a member of the Rhapsody music service. If I log on to Rhapsody from one computer, then log on from a different computer, the first computer is automatically logged off and can no longer stream music. It doesn't seem unreasonable that XBox Live could have a similar approach where you could associate the same profile with multiple XBoxes and it simply logs you off if you try to use it on more than one at the same time.

The problem there is that a computer has to be online to stream. An Xbox need not be online to play games.

And I still don't get the people railing against the iPhone's DRM. What DRM? It plays any song you can throw at it if it's in the right format. If people are talking about the API access, that's silly - and not DRM. If they're talking about iTunes, that's not Apple's stance - they very clearly support selling songs without DRM - the record labels, however, are the ones who don't (and who are trying to prop up Amazon).

I bought four or five songs from some Xbox game soundtracks that I've come to enjoy from iTunes yesterday and another 10 from Amazon. All without DRM. All will play on my iPhone, computer, car, burn to a CD... etc. I could even give copies to friends if I wanted (illegally), but I'm an honest guy and don't do that.

Erik said: An Xbox need not be online to play games.

That's not correct. Read my comment from above, wherein the games purchased and saved to my Xbox 360 will NOT play unless my profile is online. Further, they won't play on my wife or daughter's profile at all.

It's been that way for months, due entirely to a hardware failure and replacement console.

At least with Apple, I can tell them my iPod died (or has been sold, given away, whatever) and they will update the account so that any DRM-controlled songs/videos no longer consider the old iPod a valid playback device. I've done this when my wife upgraded her iPod and they resolved the issue within 24 hours.

With Microsoft, it's ~5 months.

> [Apple] will update the account so that any DRM-controlled songs/videos no longer consider the old iPod a valid playback device.

I really, really, REALLY wish Microsoft would adopt this policy for the Xbox. Not *all* your customers are filthy thieves, y'know.

I'm glad to hear MS now updates the server-side licenses to accept the new hardware signature when they repair your Xbox 360. They should go farther, though--

1) make this process brainlessly easy for customers to do on the web, not a weird "escalate to supervisor" 1-800 call

2) relax the restrictions so you can associate TWO Xbox 360s with your account.

Erik,

I could be wrong but my understanding is that if your content is tied to an XBox Live profile, then you must be logged on to access that content.

I have a question re. a replacement XBox after the red ring of death syndrome.

The replacement XBox is fine and I kept the hard drive (but not the face plate so my XBox foesn't have a front on it).

However I cannot log in to XBox Live and i've got no idea why, my ISP can't help and XBox say me account is ok.

The test shows I have a connection etc. It gets to the final test and fails to actually log in.

I went thru a ton of trouble shooters and called the companies like I said but still no XBox live.

I use the cable that came with the XBox and plug it straight to my router, everything else connects fine (2 pc and ps3 via wi fi).

I have tried plugging direct to the modem as well and I just can't get on XBox live.

Any ideas?

Robert, I think your replacement XBOX 360 is a dud. Time to call up 1-800-4MY-XBOX, and brush up on your Spanish, since McAllen, TX is 90% Spanish/American.

FYI, complaining Major Nelson accomplishes nothing. It has been tried, over and over. You say anything negative about the Xbox 360 and you're disregarded completely. Major Nelson and E aleady gave their response on the DRM issue. They said it basically isn't a big deal and it really doesn't affect that many people. They really don't care that you have a new system and you can't use your DRM without being logged into Live. All they care about is seeing how much content they can push out onto the Market place to generate more revenue, that is all that matters to them.

Just recently I found out about this when I decided to buy the newer elite for the hdmi hook up. I am amazed that I am punished by spending more money? I gave my old refurb to a friend so we could play xbox live games together, thus gaining them a new customer.

I was told nothing could be done to get my xbox live games to work offline on my elite "So sorry."

Hi, Jeff, my name is Harry Shulman. I am a consumer class action lawyer and I am trying to get relief on this issue from Microsoft. I was engaged by a client who had the DRM problem you describe. After I wrote a letter, Microsoft solved the problem for him. My goal is to ensure that it gets solved for everyone, however. Based on your post, it seems that you are out $140. Microsoft has stated to me that it put in place a program which prevents players from puchasing Xbox LIVE Marketplace content twice with the same gamertag. Is this what you did? If so, when did you do it? Or, did you repurchase the games in some other away?

My goal is to find the facts here, and I would appreciate your response. If you would prefer to call, my number is 415-455-1326. Thanks.

Official Microsoft DRM Transfer tool now available:

http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/06/26/content-license-transfer-tool-aka-the-drm-tool.aspx