14 DAY TRIAL // If there's one thing Microsoft can do right most of the time is protecting its intellectual property. The software giant has always been at the forefront of creating ways to stop other people from stealing the company's work. But, in recent history, digital rights management, the latest in intellectual property protection, might have gotten a bit out of hand, seriously punishing fair use of software.
One clear case is the DRM employed to protect the games released on the Xbox Live service from Microsoft. The DRM is specifically designed to make sure that once a game is bought and downloaded, the game ownership is tied not only to an Xbox Live account but also to the specific console that downloaded the game. Get a new Xbox 360 and you lose your Xbox Live purchases, which is certainly unfair to a lot of people, especially as Microsoft admitted the high failure rate of Xbox 360 gaming consoles.
Microsoft has now decided to make amends by releasing a workaround designed to allow players to transfer licenses from one console to another. The idea is to log into the Xbox.com site and also sign in into Xbox Live on their gaming console. On the Microsoft maintained site you need to confirm that you would like to transfer game licenses from one console to another and then you can go ahead and download each game through Xbox Live. This way the licenses are now tied to the Xbox Live account and also to the new console.
There's a FAQ online for the process. As far as we can see, movie rental licenses are not subject to the process and there is a limit of just one license transfer per year. Microsoft is emphasizing the fact that repaired and refurbished consoles should not need the license transfer process.