People were pissed when Microsoft first announced its abandonment of its DRM service, which would've caused MSN Music files to become useless (TMT News). After a big backlash, however, Microsoft of course backpedaled wildly and offered to support DRM for three more years. Nice gesture, I suppose. Luckily, Yahoo! Music, the next to leave their DRM files out in the cold, have got an exhaustively researched, well thought-out plan: "You'll be compensated for whatever you paid for the music," says Yahoo spokeswoman Carrie Davis. "We haven't said exactly what we will do, but we will take care of our customers."
I'm starting to sound, appropriately enough, like a broken record. Once again, if you bought songs from Yahoo! Music, they won't play on your computer or transfer to others after September 30. While you'll apparently see compensation for the lost files, it's, uh, great to know that Yahoo Music thought everything through before making the decision to pull the plug. Maybe you'll get a check in the mail. Maybe you'll get a year's supply of dog biscuits in the mail. Who knows! Keep 'em guessing, Yahoo! People LOVE it when you fuck around with their money... just ask Microsoft and Sony (TMT News).
It's like all of the DRM digital music services got really wasted one night and thought it would be the BEST IDEA EVER to make all of their customers as angry as possible... sort of like throwing down a gauntlet for their lowly customer service reps. Or maybe DRM was just the result of a coke-fueled three-day bender in the first place, because it's making about as much sense in the music industry as a Hannah Montana Greatest Hits album.
