Another Reason to Hate MS

**Scubadoo** · 07-25-2006, 04:51 AM

I upgraded my CPU and now all the downloaded music I bought won't play. Microsoft's answer? Reinstall the old CPU. I suppose I could have been clairvoyant and known this would happen and backed up the licenses like MS specifies in its knowledge base articles. But maybe MS could have been a little smarter and figured out a way to prevent this kind of FUBAR.

For all the money that M$ charges, they sure make crappy, painful stuff.

I'm hoping the music provider will help me out. I'd hate to pay twice.

So, I'm up to 1,999 reasons to hate MS.

**trickster** · 07-25-2006, 11:44 AM

If I were in your shoes, I'd replace the old cpu, use it to make sure the music worked, and then google for ways to change the music format to a non-drm'ed format.
Then you can put in your new cpu back.

**Scubadoo** · 07-25-2006, 08:57 PM

Thanks for the tip. I've managed to reacquire almost all of the licenses, which was slightly less painful than swapping the old CPU back in. Actually, the process was fairly painless except for one PureTracks reseller, Bonfire, which doesn't have an online way of reacquiring licenses. Still waiting to hear from them.

I'll have to search for the hack you mentioned.

**Schotty** · 07-26-2006, 01:32 AM

emusic.

No drm.

I have been a faithful subscriber for a little less than a year now. Great stuff, although dont expect metallica or britney spears...

**Lovechild** · 07-31-2006, 05:53 PM

cdbaby.com and magnatune.com both excellent sources for good indie music and they share with their artists - cdbaby has a firm 50/50 share policy and magnatune allows you to select how much you want to pay for your music. Both let you listen before you buy as much as you want.