Microsoft PlaysForSure DRM servers shut down, stranding purchased music AI-researched
Dependency: Microsoft PlaysForSure / Windows Media DRM Wikipedia
In April 2008, Microsoft announced it would shut down MSN Music's PlaysForSure DRM license servers by August 31, stranding customers' legally purchased music on their currently authorized machines. After public outcry, the deadline was extended to 2011 — but the music was still ultimately lost to anyone who changed computers or reinstalled Windows.
Fixes & Mitigations
- No fix available: Once the license servers were decommissioned, there was no way to authorize new devices. Music files still exist as .wma files but cannot be decrypted without valid license keys, making them permanently unplayable through legitimate means.
Microsoft launched PlaysForSure in 2004 as a DRM certification program for portable music devices and online music stores. The system used Windows Media DRM to tie purchased music to authorized computers — up to five machines, with license keys retrieved from Microsoft’s servers each time a new device was authorized.
What changed
In November 2006, Microsoft abandoned PlaysForSure in favor of its own vertically integrated Zune ecosystem. PlaysForSure-protected music would not play on the Zune. Then, in April 2008, Rob Bennett, General Manager of MSN Entertainment and Video Services, emailed former MSN Music customers to announce that license key retrieval would end on August 31, 2008.
The implications were stark: customers who had legally purchased music from MSN Music Store would lose access to their libraries the next time they bought a new computer, replaced a hard drive, or upgraded their operating system — because each of these actions required re-authorization from Microsoft’s servers. The DRM was tied to both the specific hardware and the specific OS installation.
The announcement provoked widespread outrage. Cory Doctorow’s coverage on Boing Boing — “MSN Music customers lose all their music the next time they buy a new PC” — became a landmark example of DRM’s failure to serve consumers. Under pressure, Microsoft extended the server deadline to at least the end of 2011. But the extension only delayed the inevitable: once the servers finally went dark, the music became permanently locked.
In September 2024, Microsoft announced it was retiring legacy Windows Media DRM services entirely for Windows 7 and 8, closing the last remaining infrastructure for this generation of DRM-protected content.
Notes
PlaysForSure’s failure became one of the most cited examples in the argument against DRM in digital media. The name itself became ironic — the format was marketed as an interoperability standard but ultimately guaranteed nothing. Any digital artwork, sound piece, or multimedia project that incorporated PlaysForSure-licensed audio was subject to the same expiration. The episode helped accelerate the music industry’s shift to DRM-free distribution, with Apple’s iTunes Store dropping DRM in 2009 and Amazon launching DRM-free MP3 sales even earlier in 2007.