“I’ve been a little skeptical of the whole Plays for Sure logo program that Microsoft started in order to make sure consumers understood which services could work with which music stores and services. Overall, the idea is pretty good in theory, in practice less so. For example, I’ve been working with a bunch of different players and different services. During one test I started using the rather excellent Sandisk Sansa e100. The problem was that even though it had the Plays for Sure logo, it wouldn’t work with subscription content. It only took me a few minutes to figure out why. A closer look at the Plays for Sure logo indicated this device would work with downloaded content but not subscription content. Oops. No biggie. Problem was with me or as we used to say in technical support PEBKAC (problem exists between keyboard and chair). I’m actually in good company, last summer when I was at MSFT, one of the Sr. Execs made the same mistake in front of a whole room of snickering analysts and reporters,” Michael Gartenberg writes for Jupiter Research.
Gartenberg thinks the problems could be solved with multiple(!) logos; what he terms “Garanimals for DRM.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Garanimals for DRM? That doesn’t sound very elegant to us. “Plays For Sure” seems like Microsoft’s “Plug And Play” – nice concept, too bad it doesn’t always work as advertised. Want elegance and ease of use? Apple’s iPod+iTunes+iTunes Music Store is still the combination to beat. It’s the real solution to guarantee that your music always “Plays For Sure.”
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple’s understanding of what really counts makes iPod+iTunes impossible to beat – June 22, 2005
i’m loving the HECK outta this!! let’s hope that MS and it’s buddies keep making technical gaffes like this one!!
first yet again!
this is business as usual for Microsoft… hardly news
But, I’m having problems with my old songs & iTunes 4.9 Somebody else has had some problem?
Sucks for Sure
MDN…it will be newsworthy if/when a Microsoft “solution” actually works seemlessly.
The slogan designed to instill fear in people in order to generate solidarity. Sounds republican.
Yes. Fear and Solidarity. Vast Right-Wing conspiracy. No fear there to generate solidarity, I guess.
What on earth is a “Garanimal?” Is this a reference to something, or is it just a nonsense word?
john, you’re showing your age…or lack thereof…
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Garanimals were clothes with little animal patches. Match the patches and you match your outfit.
http://www.garanimals.com/free_activities.htm
If you were wondering
“must” is my MDN magic word!
http://www.garanimals.com/
MS always seems to come up with these weird ass names for their technologies.
Im surprised they didn’t name it Microsoft Digital Media Assurance Protocol.
MW “around” as in around a year and a half from now, people will realize Microsoft still sucks.
No, no, no. They got it all wrong!
It’s not “Plays For Sure”, it’s “Plays ‘For Sure'”. As in <objects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=44998634&selectedItemId=44998618″>this song</A>.
See, that’s what the QA Department tests with. If it plays that song, it plays “For Sure.”
I smiled when I read this, and then laughed hysterically when I realized the guy who wrote the column was DEAD SERIOUS!
Wow – how pathetic is this?
More misguided tripe from MDN and the zealots love to shout “yay.”
While “PlaysForSure” apparently has two tiers of compatibility — DRM and non-DRM — there’s still a *much* larger selection of devices in each tier than Apple offers for iTMS purchases.
So while you may find that the iPod is a superior device to all the others, and that may guide your decision to lock into their hardware solution, you can’t honestly believe that their model is in any way superior to PFS.
MW: “saying” — I’m just saying.
Apparently if you get all of your “Plays for sure” digital music players for free, then the fact that it doesn’t actually play is “No biggie.” No biggie? What is he talking about. Microsoft warranted that my music player with a bright blue logo will play Microsoft digitally restricted music. Does it? No. Lawsuit? Why not? When is the public going to start demanding that Microsoft live up to its bullshit promises?
“So while you may find that the iPod is a superior device to all the others, and that may guide your decision to lock into their hardware solution, you can’t honestly believe that their model is in any way superior to PFS.”
I do believe it’s superior, only in so far that the Apple model actually works without having to put an inaccurate moniker on it.
“PlaysForSure” on Windows-only!
’nuff said!!
Let’s add this to the growing list of MS caveats: When they come up with a catchy phrase billing how good something “just works”, it doesn’t.
“Im surprised they didn’t name it Microsoft Digital Media Assurance Protocol.”
Microsoft Windows Media Player Digital Media Assurance Protocol Explorer for Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 98SE, 2K, ME, and XP. Let’s see Ballmer spray that out in one of his frenzies.
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Good one Eric24601.
At least “Sucks for Sure” would be truth in advertising.
If your worried about ensuring compatability, just buy a player and use the software it comes with. This logo thing is an extra bonus. If Microsoft owned all the manufactures everything would work together, but all they can do is make recomendations.
Plays for Sure is not a reccomendation it is a promise. Or more accurately it is at best a broken promise for this is the real world of Microsoft. Quite scary how many PC ‘clones’ can’t wait to grow up and find a nice rich niche job misleading the consumer and making inane moralistic excuses for so doing. The image of them holding mutual masturbation parties as they get off to a smiling image of the great Godly Gates (or is that Stevie Budha Bulmer) offering thanks for their unswerving obedience brings a tear to your eye.
Microsoft is so popular and so big, they are like the republican party; they can say and do what ever they want, they can do no evil in they eyes of thier rabid supporting sheeple. They only get more popular with complaints, and more popular with bugs and crashes…It’s like “Fun” for the people who get jaffted by Microsuck. “Woweee, did ya see that, hon? finnaly, finnaly the famous blue-screen of death, yay! har har”[insert M$ cash regestar sounds here…cha-ching].