Windows ecosystem reboot: bad news if you move country
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 4th Oct 2012 14:11 UTC
Windows "Microsoft doesn't understand that people travel around the world, and are hugely sentimental about things they've paid for. Here's a list of some services that are affected by Windows Live ID billing region locks and what you will lose if you move countries." It ain't pretty.
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RE[4]: Not Only MS
by jgagnon on Tue 9th Oct 2012 12:31 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Not Only MS"
jgagnon
Member since:
2008-06-24

I mean look at how long it took to get it through their thick heads that nobody was gonna pay for lousy WMA music with DRM up the butt yet while they switched to MP3 they are STILL making piracy the better deal as they charge a buck a single when by all rights it should be less than 25c since they don't have any printing or distribution costs.


A HUGE chunk of the overhead for music is all of the production and promotion work that goes into making the original copy, so to speak. A lot of people have to get paid money to make it all happen, especially on the promotion side. The costs of making a hard copy (CD, case, printed material) are very low, and in volume is likely less than 50 cents per copy. So changing the distribution medium from a CD to an MP3 file still doesn't change their cost structure by much.

And before I get pounced on, I'm not promoting the outrageous pricing structure they have in place for music, movies, or games. On a personal note though, I think buying a song for a dollar is fine and even a good deal for a song I like. The part I hate about it is how little of that dollar is actually given to the artist. It is a far cry better than paying $20 for a CD just to get that one song.

I long for a day when we can buy directly from artists and cut out the middle man entirely for these things.

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