Tesco Digital closed - MP3 DRM on new computer

lorrainp

Bit of a problem.

I have some MP3 files that I bought from https://www.tescodigital.com.

I have recently bought a new computer and transferred all my files over. When I tried to play my Tesco MP3 files through Windows Media Player on the new computer, it says "you do not have the rights to play this file", and links me to http://wmasf.musicnet.com/licgen.asp.

When I click that link, it says "a license for this file cannot be found".

I still have the original order confirmation emails from Tesco, with a link to "re-download items" (https://www.tescodigital.com/Store/Pages/Secure/Account/OrderHistory.aspx), however when I click this, it says that the Tesco Digital site has closed down, and all accounts are now closed.

Help! I bought from Tesco specifically to avoid this sort of problem, as I assumed they would always be there!

How do I get my music to work?

erasion

A lot will depend on the format of the files. Can you identify what format they are (this will be the 3-letter code after the filename such as .MP3 or .WMA).

johnnyreggae

Have you tried calling or emailing Tesco itself - they may provide guidance

Sport_Billy

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a copy protection technology that was flavour of the month in the music industry a few years ago. It aimed to make it difficult for purchased downloaded music files to be copied for friends, by tying in the purchase and playback to the PC using DRM license files, but it also made it difficult for people to transfer their music to other PCs too (when upgrading their PC). And because it was complicated and not popular, a lot of music stores nowadays have dropped it and just offer DRM-free music.

I've avoided buying DRM'ed music because of these reasons, so I don't have first hand knowledge of what to do in your situation. I'd certainly have a moan to someone at Tesco about it!

There is supposed to be a feature in Microsoft Windows Media Player that allows you to manage your DRM licences and perhaps transfer them from your old PC to your new PC, but I've never used it.

A lot of DRM music, whilst not allowing you to copy and play the file on another PC, does however allow you to burn an audio CD with the music. If this is the case then doing this essentially removes any DRM protection from the music. So if you can, burn an audio CD on the old PC and then import the audio CD on the new PC. It's probably worth burning audio CDs of your purchased DRM music anyway, as a backup, in case anything goes wrong with the DRM licence/transfer.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

erasion wrote: »

A lot will depend on the format of the files. Can you identify what format they are (this will be the 3-letter code after the filename such as .MP3 or .WMA).

I think there's a clue hidden in here somewhere...

lorrainp wrote: »

I have some MP3 files that I bought from www.tescodigital.com.

To the OP, I can't believe that you are the only person to encounter this problem. I think a strongly worded complaint to Tesco's head office is called for.

prowla

I generally buy CDs and rip them, because it is entirely possible that the company may disappear, lose information, change its policy, or do something else to mess things up.

Kite2010

Have you tried playing the files in another media player

Odd that MP3s should have DRM on them, it was normally WMA files which had DRM on from online sites (bar the fruity one)