The Consumerist has been following the story of Kevin and the aftermath of his RRoD for a couple of months now. Unfortunately, Kevin’s situation is not at all unique. Even conservative numbers report that 16% of all Xbox 360 consoles may have to go into service for repairs of one nature or another. If the problem is as serious as the Red Ring of Death, a new or refurbished console may be shipped to the unlucky gamer. Normally this sounds like a great thing, but not when it comes to downloaded content from Live. See, the problem is that content purchased from Live is strenuously protected. It is not only tied to your Live ID, but also to your console. Change one or the other and you may not have access to your legally purchased software. By submitting a 360 for warranty repair, you just may fall into that category yourself.

So, what I want to know is why can’t Microsoft let people transfer what they have bought legally from one console to another? Sony allows this. See, content from the PlayStation Network is not tied to an individuals system. If I purchase a game under my login on PSN, I can carry that content with me to any PlayStation 3. The catch is that it is under my unique profile. I can access it from another PS3, other then my own, but I have to have a profile on that machine also. See, Sony realizes that sharing is fun. Log in on someone else’s PS3, download a game that you own but they may not. Think of it like being a demo. They get to play it as long as you are logged in on their PS3. After you log off, they have no access to it. Unless they have your password they can’t get at your content, so what do they do? Buy it themselves if they like it.

I think that strategy is much preferable then the very user-unfriendly Microsoft method of controlling content. Back in March, fellow Consumerist reader James provided an example of what he had to go through to get his content back. After getting “the runaround” he was finally told that Microsoft would re-license his content for his new Xbox, but it would take 20 to 30 days. Days! My question is why would it take so long? Would it be so hard just to look up his account, see the old 360 serial number and change it with the new? Why the extended wait? Why make the consumer suffer? One last question. Why do we put up with it?

**UPDATE**

It seems that Microsoft has made some inroads to fixing the problem. Just a couple of days after I wrote this post, Microsoft released their license transfer tool online. What this tool does is allow the transfer of purchased games from one console to another. A little late for a solution, but their getting there. Now, they just need to come up with a DRM scheme that is as easy as the one that Sony has. Ironic isn’t it. Music DRM from Sony was Draconian, but with gaming, it’s a breeze.