>Microsoft Has No Answer For Their Broken XBOX Live DRM [Drm]

>Reader Kevin’s XBOX 360 suffered the usual Red Ring of Death, so he sent it in to be repaired. He got back a different XBOX 360 with a different serial number. That would be no big deal, except Kevin has purchased a bunch of content through XBOX Live… content that is no longer fully functional due to Microsoft’s broken DRM.

This is typical of the problems with DRM and why law abiding consumers are the ones who suffer from DRM. If you purchase content that is tied to a particular bit of hardware, what happens if the hardware fails and you’re sent a replacement?

Now, obviously, it is absurd that Microsoft does not have a mechanism in place to deal with this. But, why should we even have to deal with it at all. Can you imagine if your replacement record player no longer played any of your records? Or you got a new VCR and it wouldn’t play any movies you’d purchased?

If nothing else, this demonstrates the customer relations expense (both financially and in good will) that DRM brings.