Microsoft will be shutting off the license servers that authorize customers computers to play these DRMed tracks. MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to make any and all authorizations or deauthorizations before August 31.

"As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers. You will need to obtain a license key for each of your songs downloaded from MSN Music on any new computer, and you must do so before August 31, 2008. If you attempt to transfer your songs to additional computers after August 31, 2008, those songs will not successfully play," says the email. How nice.

By the way this also means that upgrading your operating system will stop these paid tracks from playing after August 31, 2008! That's right, users would need to reauthorize a machine after they upgrade from Windows XP to say, Windows Vista. If you get a new computer, goodbye music. You can authorize up to five Windows computers to play these tracks, but they can not be changes after the August 31, 2008 cut off date.

Microsoft claims the license is not expiring though. This should make the persons happy to know if they never update their computer and keep the same one the rest of their life, the music they purchased will play, probably. Really!

My suggestion to anyone who bought any music from these bozos, burn the music to audio CDs and then rip them back to their computer as MP3s. This will kill the DRM, but will lose some audio quality. I guess this solution is better than silence! Let's face it DRM sucks.

Microsoft dumped the MSN Music store on November 14, 2006 after less than two years in operation, along with its "PlaysForSure" partners when it launched the Zune with its propriety store that sells music that ONLY plays on the Zune.

After years in the marketplace, the Zune has been mostly a failure. I have still never seen one in the the wild. I know, each year I hear how the Zune will do this or that. If I were as Zune customer, I would not be too sure that they will wind up screwed over just like the MSN Music customers are now.

If you do not believe me read CNET Molly Wood's blog post, "5 reasons my Zune is dead to me." She was once anti- iPod and has mostly been anti- Apple. Now she has finally realized what many iPod users always knew.

Don't get me wrong. I hate all DRM and that includes iTunes DRM. But with the very poor user experience like the Zune, the chances of the plug being pulled is far greater. After being in the market for years, Microsoft is just now getting around to allowing the Zune to play audiobooks from Audible and thinking about podcasts and video content to be available!

Let's remember, that it is Microsoft that has made a business out of selling its DRM technology. They even pushed their technology that did not allow audio CDs to be ripped to iTunes or play in any computer that did not have the latest Windows Media Player installed. By that way this version was only available on Windows computers.

The iPod has killed the Zune with over 80% of the market and the iPhone will help bury it further. Microsoft’s screwed over their longtime partners who built mp3 players and music stores based on Microsoft’s DRM technology. Now they are screwing the very customers that bought the tracks. How long with the public buy from a bully who does not care about them?

Read the post I wrote called Beware the Zune, Know the Facts, I am amazed how much of what I wrote is still relevant. I wrote this on November 26th, 2006 right after the Zune launch.

• Improved performance with Airfoil Speakers.
• Added On/Off checkbox for Effects, for use with DTS audio.
• Many other minor bug fixes and improvements.

Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed.

• A new single-window interface (similar to Apertures) • Improved editing • Sountrack Pro 2.0 in the box • The ability to "...save your key commands, channel strip settings and plug-in settings to your .Mac account for easy backup, sharing, and portability".

A Day of Silence Hi, it's Tim from Pandora, I'm sorry to say that today Pandora, along with most Internet radio sites, is going off the air in observance of a Day Of Silence. We are doing this to bring to your attention a disastrous turn of events that threatens the existence of Pandora and all of internet radio. We need your help. Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora's fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies. A bill called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" has already been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1353) and House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) to fix the problem and save Internet radio--and Pandora--from obliteration. I'd like to ask you to call your Congressional representatives today and ask them to become co-sponsors of the bill. It will only take a few minutes and you can find your Congresspersons and their phone numbers by entering your zip code here. Your opinion matters to your representatives - so please take just a minute to call. Visit www.savenetradio.org to continue following the fight to Save Internet Radio. As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support. -Tim Westergren (Pandora founder)