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1.  

   

   Gunnar, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:01am

   
   

   It would be nice if the Consumer Product Safety Comission could force recalls of defective products, like those mp3s.

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2.  

   Outside Pressure?

   

   Matt, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:19am

   
   

   I have to wonder if they were pressured by outside forces (music industry?) to keep it running so as not to provide yet another example of why DRM is ultimately bad for consumers.

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3.  

   Re: Outside Pressure?

   

   Dave, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:23am

   
   

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4.  

   Re: Outside Pressure?

   

   Dave, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:24am

   
   

   I don't think MS had to shut off the servers to prove that PaysForSure was bad for customers

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5.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 11:41am

   
   

   The smart thing to do would be for MS to bite the bullet and allow their customers to download MP3 version of the songs instead. They could compensate the record companies for the "upgrade" to MP3 and avoid this PR nightmare.

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6.  

   Re:

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 12:25pm

   
   

   The right thing to do is not try to market DRM as beneficial to the consumer.

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7.  

   Re: Re:

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 12:40pm

   
   

   You people are so disingenuous. You know that when it is billed as beneficial to the consumer, what they mean is that it is the only way Big Content is comfortable releasing its content digitally, and without it they wont.. and therefore DRM enables the release of digital content where there would otherwise be none--and this is definitely beneficial to the consumer.
   
   Of course, all of us here are entirely certain that the whole system will eventually collapse and it will just all be freely available.
   
   But in the meantime, it is definitely net beneficial--even though it has its own intrinsic downsides.

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8.  

   

   Overcast, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 12:58pm

   
   

   Ahh good idea.. Let's depend on the internet more.
   
   I think as I sit and take but a brief break dealing with multiple sites at work being down because of vast problems with a larger ISP today... ;)

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9.  

   

   Dallas Hinton, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 2:19pm

   
   

   Maybe icrosoft could more profitably supply a patch for download that would effectively function as a local drm server for their 35 customers, and then take their servers down? Seems to me that way both sides would win!

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10.  

    Virtualize and Forget It....

    

    Freedom, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 2:34pm

    
    

    Seems to me that it would be fairly simple to just virtualize the server(s) and then forget it. The users will diminish over time the cost to run the virtualized servers has to be minimal (definitely much less than the PR nightmare).
    
    Review the server requests and when the #s make it such that it cost justifies, shut them down and if anyone calls to complain, offer them a refund.
    
    Just my 2 carbon credits worth...
    
    Freedom

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11.  

    Break It

    

    Tortel, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 7:21pm

    
    

    Why don't they just break their own DRM? Wouldn't it be easier to release a tool that removes the DRM (Only their PlaysForNotSure DRM of course) and then ditch their servers?
    
    Or would that *gasp* break their DRM agreement?

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12.  

    Re: Defective

    

    Dohn Joe, Jun 19th, 2008 @ 8:00pm

    
    

    Ahhh, yes...but they're Defective by Design my dear Watson!

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13.  

    Looking at a gizmo at the flea market

    

    Geazer w/ funny hat, Jun 20th, 2008 @ 9:14pm

    
    

    Hmmm, looks ok .... but does it play ?
    
    Yeeeap, dat playz fer shore !

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