Yahoo! Repeats Microsoft’s DRM Server Mistake

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Now we know: Microsoft and Yahoo! are perfect for each other. Despite watching Microsoft’s recent debacle when it announced it was going to shut down the licensing servers for their defunct Music Store - a debacle which resulted in Microsoft reversing its decision - Yahoo! decided to try to do the same thing.

Thursday Yahoo! sent an email to customers of its Yahoo! Unlimited Music Store, indicating that the store would close its virtual doors in September. You can download the full email (.PDF) from here. Here’s the painful part of the email:

After September 30, 2008, you will not be able to transfer songs to unauthorized computers or relicense these songs after changing operating systems. Please note that your purchased tracks will generally continue to play on your existing authorized computers unless there is a change to the computer’s operating system.

Hey, the same great deal as Microsoft: as long as your PCs never crash or anything, you’re gold.

Just as they did when Microsoft tried the same “stunt,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation chimed in, saying that to do rigth by its customers, Yahoo! should:

• Issue a full public apology to your Yahoo! Music customers.

• Offer to refund the purchase price of the affected downloads or, at the customer’s option, provide replacements from an online store that offers the same tracks in a DRM-free format.

• Ensure that all Yahoo! Music buyers have (or have permanent access to) receipts identifying dates, amounts, and titles purchased, so they have proofs of purchase. Or, better yet, offer to cover their legal costs if they are hit with a copyright infringement claim based on a song purchased through Yahoo! Music.

• Widely publicize the above measures so that Yahoo! customers know their options. That publicity should include, at a minimum, advertising in major music magazines and newspapers in every major U.S. city, as well as targeted keyword advertising.

Sounds pretty much like what they told Microsoft to do.

But what’s strange is that Yahoo! monitored the situation, and decided that DRM was a dead end, and that rather than extending licensing server support for years, as Microsoft did, the best way to do it was to force their customers to deal with it cold turkey. Michael Spiegelman, Yahoo’s senior director of music said:

“We definitely tracked the situation closely. We found (the decision to continue supporting DRM keys for three more years) just prolongs the pain. It keeps the DRM question going for years. We want to help people make the transition now.”

Well, if you want to help people, how about giving DRM-free copies to former customers of your store? Yeah, I know, it makes too much sense.

Since Yahoo! watched the situation with Microsoft closely and obviously gave this a great deal of thought, it’s doubtful they’ll change their mind, but we’ll see.