An update on WMA license expiration issues for purchased content: We’d like your assistance!

I also received this error and noted it in the other thread.  Because I never heard anything about it I too just deleted the tracks in the hope that it would just appear in my restore option.  One song for sure was Jason Mraz's The Remedy.  I can't recall the other song.  It showed up on my system as in my trash so I tried to restore it.  This did happen after I switched systems from my old laptop to my new one which is Vista Home Premium but I have 4500 songs in my inventory so I didn't even notice until a month or so ago.

Spiderman Soundtrack, Hero, just started doing it, it's now available as an MP3 which seemed to be your first explanation for the issue.  When will we be reimbursed for that if at all because if this is gonna keep happening I'll likely just not buy anymore content from Zune Marketplace.

So far I've found 2 songs that I'm getting this "web help" link for (I'm sure there are more):

http://www.zune.net/en-US/support/webhelp/C00D27E1.htm?&webhelp_mpver=3.1.620.0&webhelp_id=C00D27E1&webhelp_contextid=0&webhelp_originalid=C00D27E1&webhelp_locale=en-US

If the song is no longer available in the Marketplace and synching will remove it from my device, even though I paid for it with Microsoft Points, I think you're obligated to refund me those points.  When you go out and buy a CD, you own it... that's it, end of story.  This crap with downloading songs is *** if a song you purchased can later be denied access (the reason is immaterial).  In a situation where something we've bought no longer belongs to us, then Microsoft isn't entitled to the money we've paid for it.  I don't have the time or inclination to jump through hoops and download software to help you fix this problem... if we have songs we can't access anymore, we should be given a refund.

 

 Do you people at Microsoft want to pay me $22 an hour? Because if you pay me $22 an hour I would be MORE than happy to debug your own software for you. But you don't pay me. I pay you. So, here's an idea. Fix it. Get us our music back. Or refund us.

I too am having trouble with certain songs due to an error of expiration on rights even though I've never bought a zune pass, luckily I have never fully synched my zune so its still on there but I do get annoyed how I cant listen to these songs on my computer's playlist the songs I have found are as followed:

Disturbed: Prayer, Rise, and Remember

Three Days Grace: Time of Dying, Animal I Have Become, and Pain

Those are the only songs so far that I have seen screw up with me and tell me the error...

A fix would be nice :(

I have 80 songs & 6 videos that refuse to play, or download. Did all that was requested, sent the data in, still waiting for the support. Escalation department refused to help because I have bought too many songs from the Zune Marketplace. Now  I'm being punished for being a loyal customer?

---

Didgeridoo, Ethnic, Medieval, New Age, Tribal
Don't Throw A Fit, Throw a Boomerang!

Okay, I want to upgrade the WMA to MP3. Can't restore, the WMA don't exist on the servers anymore.

Knowing that I will have to spend points on the songs/albums again, I redeemed the points to my account - but those that refunded the points failed to advise me to make a new account if I wanted to replace with MP3.

When I go to buy the songs, only get the option to restore. Called customer service, was told the server sees that I had purchased the same songs, on the same album, of the same track. When the conversion came across, the songs were replaced with MP3. However, the server isn't seeing that there is a file format /difference/ and thinks I already have the songs. /grrr

There does not seem to be an over-ride option to go ahead an buy anyhow, or a way to tell the Zune Software/Server to forget whether I purchased it before. So refunded points to my account doesn't solve the issues of upgrading/buying MP3 formats; when I had bought WMA prior.


One would think that if the server does not have WMA of the songs (thus why I don't have a license anymore, duh) and only MP3, that if I cannot restore (obviously) that maybe a purchase option would be offered.



How do I purchase MP3, if I previously bought WMA, of the same artist/album/song/track?



Customer Service said they could not (or would not) transfer points across to a new account, so much for technological progression as an option.


What else can I do??



Zune needs to incorporate into their next version the ability to purchase MP3 song/album versions, and/or Re-Purchase for lost media, which will be more user friendly to it's customers.

---

Didgeridoo, Ethnic, Medieval, New Age, Tribal
Don't Throw A Fit, Throw a Boomerang!

http://cid-37e7b071f0f16932.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/DxDiag%7C_Thnks%20fr%20th%20Mmrys.txt

http://cid-37e7b071f0f16932.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Screen%20Shots%20Thnks%20fr%20th%20Mmrys.pdf

http://cid-37e7b071f0f16932.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Thnks%20fr%20th%20mmrys.saz

I purchased the album Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol.1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness (Parental Advisory) by Coheed and Cambria on 3/9 on an older computer.

I was beginning to have hardware issues with that computer (Windows XP-SP3), so I purchased a new one all-together with Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I copied my old data and placed the music in my User folder's Music directory. All of my songs have imported successfully and I am able to play all of them as far as I know with the exception of this album.

When I do, the each song of the album has an error message:

Title: Can't Play

Summary:  This item is no longer available from the Zune Marketplace. Because of this, you can no longer play it or sync it with your Zune. You might want to delete it from your collection. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Error Code: C00D12D1

The album was purchased with Microsoft Points and had been working properly on my old computer. Even still, I checked the Zune Marketplace and the album appears to still be available. The only thing that I can think of is that something with the DRM changed, invalidating my copy of the album.

Can we at least get an acknowledgement that you guys actually have a timeline to resolve this?

 Tick131 wrote:

I was beginning to have hardware issues with that computer (Windows XP-SP3), so I purchased a new one all-together with Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I copied my old data and placed the music in my User folder's Music directory. All of my songs have imported successfully and I am able to play all of them as far as I know with the exception of this album.

There may be one method of recovery, but only if you haven't purchase anything else since, and if you are adept in your computer skills. This is not for the average user to perform, as one wrong move could cause more harm than good.

• Both machines, set folder options to see every file, including hidden system files.
• Search both machines for "DRM" and not the pathing.
• On the new machine, if there is content under the current DRM folder, rename the folder to DRM(2) or DRMBackup (if it does not exist).
• On the new machine, if there is no DRM folder, or if the folder is empty, there may be hope.
  
• On Vista Home Premium x64, the path of the DRM folder is:
  C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DRM
• Create the DRM folder in that pathing if it does not exist.
• Next copy the contents of the WinXP machine's DRM folder to a flashdrive or external drive, making sure you can see all files!
• Place the old WinXP DRM files into the empty, or new, Vista x64 DRM folder.
• Reset the folder options on both machines to hide hidden system files.
  Never delete anything, back it up first, and rename it!
• Reboot your machine. Hopefully Zune will read the WinXP DRM folder contents, and allow you to burn the WMA songs to CD media.

I make backup copies my DRM folders, using Microsoft's SyncToy, after each new non-MP3 file I had to buy.
Can't back up the DRM folders while the Zune software is active, as the files are in use.

The DRM folder has the important files needed to match with Zune's servers.
Resetting the DRM folders using Zune's infamous DRM-Reset doesn't help. It deletes the DRM folder's contents and reset another copy of the licenses of every song & video purchase, thus you will get tagged on another download.
There are only 5 licenses per song/video, once those are gone, you'll get errors in playback / synchronization.


If this still doesn't help, or things are worse, just repeat the steps and undo what was done, and renaming where need be.


Only do this if you feel comfortable, have not purchased any new songs, and want to try something instead of being ignored.
.
However, if the songs you are having issues with were purchased as WMA, and the new songs have that [MP3] tag on them now, then you are out of luck until Zune gives us an override MP3 purchase option. -  Use at your own risk.

---

Didgeridoo, Ethnic, Medieval, New Age, Tribal
Don't Throw A Fit, Throw a Boomerang!

Thanks Helkos, unfortunately I had told the Zune software to Restore All music and I have purchased music since then.

The music still exists on my Zune, however, I'm afraid to sync it for the new songs in case it prevents the songs from playing on the Zune altogether.

Overall, I've been very happy with Microsoft products and especially the Zune (mine's a Gen1 with the New Year's issue being the only problem I've ever had with it), but I must admit, this thread is awfully quiet from the MS front, which worries me a bit. Repurchasing the music is not an option since DRM is supposed to be a "Fair Use" system.