PlaysForSure: a compatibility promise Microsoft's own player declined
Zune did not support PlaysForSure, stranding buyers of Microsoft-certified music
The market's verdict: +2.2% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
PlaysForSure was Microsoft's compatibility mark for music stores and devices: buy DRMed Windows Media files from Napster, Urge or MSN Music, and per the logo on the box, they would play for sure. Then in November 2006 it came out that Microsoft's own new player, the Zune, would not play any of it, because the Zune worked only with Microsoft's new Zune Marketplace. Partners had built stores and players around the certification, and customers had bought music on the strength of the sticker. Microsoft kept selling PlaysForSure files at MSN Music even while advertising the Zune alongside them. The program was discontinued by 2008, and every purchase made behind the logo became a countdown.
This one is officially acknowledged.
They did it more than once
The program certified its partners into a dead end, then followed them in.
Links
↳ caused by Zune incompatible with PlaysForSure (November 2006)
Timeline
- Nov 6, 2006 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.