Defunct MSN Music Store Gives Us Another Reason to Hate DRM

As if we needed still another reason to hate DRM (copy-protection or digital rights management) - whether it be of video, software, or music - here's another one. You'd figure a company as large as Microsoft would be able to commit to supporting DRM'ed products for as long as necessary, but apparently you'd be wrong.

[Gerry in Ohio]

Big companies like Microsoft can do anything they want...there are no government rules or regulations that these BIG hitters can't circumvent. We are all slaves to their wishes. Deal with it...

[Fearful Ralph]

"You'd figure a company as large as Microsoft would be able to commit to supporting DRM'ed products for as long as necessary, but apparently you'd be wrong."

There is a basic fallacy with the above statement. Microsoft did support the products as long as necessary, in fact, far longer. As soon as they shut down their "store" they had no financial reason to support their now obsolete product line.

I'm not agreeing with the philosophy. I am just stating a corporate fact of life. I learned this sad truth back in the 1960s when I discovered that Chevrolet was unable to supply a vital part for my one year old Corvette because they were waiting until they had a backlog of 50,000 orders before putting the part back into production.