It's a question I'm seeing over and over again in the forums. Users are bringing home copies of The Dark Knight and they want to take the pristine digital copy that comes with the DVD and place it on their Zune. It works fine in Windows Media Player, but when it gets over to the Zune software, the software plays Digital Copy-Nazi and says "No Dark Knight for you." It leaves people perplexed because they can't understand why it's working on one Microsoft thing and not another.Well to understand the answer to that you have to understand that there are actually two forms of DRM going on. There's the PlaysforSure DRM (now changed to Works with Windows Vista) which is the format that your Windows Media Player and any devices that sync to WMP will understand. MSN Music, when it was around, used this form of DRM as well. Then there's the Zune DRM. You'll find this DRM on the Zune Pass music, music videos, music that hasn't been made MP3 yet but available for purchase and tv shows.
Unfortunately, those two types don't cross very well.
Now, the interesting thing is that music that you download from Zune Pass CAN be played in Windows Media Player. I know this because right now I'm listening to J.J. Johnson and Al Grey in WMP -- music that I downloaded a few days ago using Zune Pass.
So right now, it appears that things aren't on a two way street. I agree with those who want to have a digital copy of the movie to work on their Zune. It would save the hassle of having to rip the DVD and hope that you format it correctly for the screen and everything. Plus, and this is my opinion, it would alleviate some of that urgent need people have for a movie marketplace.
Your thoughts on this?
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