re: "This item is no longer available at Zune Marketplace" !!!

And just to be clear, this is not Zune Pass stuff.  This is music bought outright.  I've been dealing with this issue for *SIX MONTHS*.  I first noticed music being stolen from me just before Christmas 2008, and it's just continued to worsen.

If I was an alarmist I'd say ebay your Zunes while you can ... the service appears to be going bye-bye...

Any purchased WMA contennt should never be lost. If you have purchased WMA content that can no longer be played due to a rights issue go here http://forums.zune.net/486906/ShowPost.aspx and follow the directions. It is ann issue we are trying to figure out the rot cause and get fixed. This information will help it greatly.

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That cannot live which eternally lies, and with strange untold eons even death may die.

David,

In relation to this but with the Zune Pass subscription, not purchased music, why is access to the music changing so much?

I love my Zune Pass.  In fact it's a revolution for the entertainment industry!  I wish it would catch on in a big way.

It's becoming increasingly frustrating to have to download music and a month later that music is no longer available so my digital rights are not renewed.  Theoretically if I continue to pay my subscription fee I should continue to have rights to this music.

If Microsoft cannot consistently maintain the same content for the Zune Pass, it's going to end up going away and those of us that love it will be forced to go with the old fashioned iPod model of purchasing each song separately...booo!

Any feedback would be great!!

Chris

I also was just on the phone with phone support fo 1:05 mins.  They finally told me the content on Marketplace was removed and I will not be able to redownload the songs I used to listen to on my Zune device.  This is awful waste of money!!  I plan to cancel subscrption and buy I-Pod.

Unfortunately Chris, this falls to the labels. Zune tries hard to give bonuses, promotions and other incentives for labels to go with the Zune Pass option. But not all labels want to go with this option. I love it as well, and download tons of music I would never buy simply because I can. Typically you will find most of the downloadable content that is consistent is the major labels, while the smaller labels can fluctuate.

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That cannot live which eternally lies, and with strange untold eons even death may die.

 TheCthulhian wrote:

Unfortunately Chris, this falls to the labels. Zune tries hard to give bonuses, promotions and other incentives for labels to go with the Zune Pass option. But not all labels want to go with this option. I love it as well, and download tons of music I would never buy simply because I can. Typically you will find most of the downloadable content that is consistent is the major labels, while the smaller labels can fluctuate.

David-  that is interesting and not unexpected.  I think it can be pretty scary for the labels...as they probably equate the zune pass with low or declining revenue... (but I don't know how MS compensates the labels for zune pass downloads...)  You might want to share this with the zune pass contract managers as it might help them in their negotiations.  Note the Corey Smith example...

 TheCthulhian wrote:

Any purchased WMA contennt should never be lost.

I agree 100%, but unfortunately it DOES get lost.  If a publisher decides to re-post an album (such as Tower of Power's self-titled album), then all the songs are still available on the Marketplace .... *you just have to buy them all again*.  If other albums are simply REMOVED by the publisher, you are not allowed to listen to that music anymore.  There are no refunds.  You've just lost the music.

In either case, the DRM policy we're dealing with here is just awful, and it's the reason I jumped ship months ago.

Again .... *NOT* speaking about Zune Pass here.

Completely maddening.  Every few syncs I seem to "lose" a few more Zune pass songs as the current license expires and the new one either doesn't allow syncing to a device OR the song is no longer available on the Zune Marketplace.  It's not a large percentage of my collection being impacted (1-3%, tops) but it's frustrating when it hits a song you really listen to a lot.

Attention record labels: when you make it difficult for consumers to purchase your product legitimately (via Zune pass) those users will likely turn to other methods of getting the music.  And those methods will almost certainly NOT involve a purchase of physical media (CD or record album).

Sad.  The Zune pass is (was?) the most streamlined and user-friendly way yet for folks to get digital music without piracy.  Record label stubbornness is slowly but surely crippling the Zune Pass to the point where it's not worth using.  I (heart) AllTunes.

 

I am a little confused and about to purchase a Zune so clarification would be good.  So are you saying that if I purchase music outright through the Zune Marketplace that it could be "stolen" later or not work if I reformat/buy a new computer?  Also, the Zune Pass is a big reason why I am going to buy a Zune but if I will lose what I download...I don't see the point.

Landon

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zune hd 16 black

 LandonAB wrote:

So are you saying that if I purchase music outright through the Zune Marketplace that it could be "stolen" later or not work if I reformat/buy a new computer?

If you reformat or buy a new computer, and the songs you bought were in WMA (which have DRM on them), then unless you've burned those songs to CD as a backup, you might not be able to download them again from the Marketplace, in which case, yes, they would be lost.

The bigger issue, though, is that even if you don't do those things, you might still lose the ability to play your WMA-with-DRM files, due to a long-standing bug in the Zune system. They've been working on this bug for a very long time, but they haven't fixed it yet.

Burn your WMA-with-DRM songs to a CD for backup purposes, and back up your MP3s onto a backup drive, and you'll never lose the music.

 LandonAB wrote:

Also, the Zune Pass is a big reason why I am going to buy a Zune but if I will lose what I download...I don't see the point.

That's a different problem. The labels have the right to revoke music from the Zune Pass program at any time, which will remove your right to play it. Remember, you're only renting it for as long as you pay and as long as Zune can license it. There's plenty that's available, but also plenty that's not. I find that it's worth it anyways, especially when you factor in the ten free monthly downloads.

I'd give the 14-day Zune Pass trial a whirl (even if you don't have the player yet, you can still use it to download/stream the music on your computer) and see what's there and what's not, and then decide.

 LandonAB wrote:

I am a little confused and about to purchase a Zune so clarification would be good.  So are you saying that if I purchase music outright through the Zune Marketplace that it could be "stolen" later or not work if I reformat/buy a new computer?  Also, the Zune Pass is a big reason why I am going to buy a Zune but if I will lose what I download...I don't see the point.

Landon

There is currently a bug that is affecting some DRM-protected purchased tracks...and yes, causing some folks (not all) to lose some tracks (not all.)  But you should always read the terms and conditions for purchased music carefully, no matter where you buy it.  You can generally re-download it a limited number of times only, and you are always at some risk if the provider decides not to support that DRM system at some point....an example is Walmart- they turned off their DRM license server when they went 100% DRM-free (MP3.)  That potentially leaves everyone with the prior DRM'd files in the lurch when they upgrade their PCs.  (I think Walmart finally relented and did some form of a discounted MP3 upgrade plan...or similar.)  Zune Marketplace is going DRM free for purchased music, but isn't 100% there yet.