Virgin Digital packs up its DRM and goes home

We haven't heard a lot from Virgin Digital since it launched way back in 2004 (save for the odd squabble with Apple), but we'd be remiss if we didn't note the service's passing, which the company has now made official. According to IDG News, Virgin Digital actually stopped selling tracks in the U.K. last Friday, with the entire service set to be shut down on October 19th. In the meantime, existing customers will be able to enjoy the fruits of their monthly subscription while it lasts, with those that have more than one month of outstanding subscriptions able to get a refund. That doesn't apply to anyone with unused credits for downloads, however, who are advised to use 'em up or lose 'em. All of this follows Virgin Digital's departure from the US market earlier this year, when it packed up shop and left its customers to Napster. While Virgin seems to be staying mum on the exact reasons for the service's closure, as IDG News points out, its reliance on iPod-unfriendly DRM certainly doesn't seem to have helped matters.

[mike @ Sep 24th 2007 12:57PM]

That thing looks about as responsive as my wife!

[Tired_ @ Sep 24th 2007 2:10PM]

Hmm. Tries to control what you do, locks you in forever, can't be shared with your friends....you could be on to something...

[AJ @ Sep 24th 2007 8:41PM]

@Tired_:

You want to share your wife with your friends, dude?

[Darnell @ Sep 24th 2007 1:35PM]

Think business. It was rediculous to lock out a potential revenue stream by locking out iPod users. Could NBCs new ventures see the same fate?

[MacGuru @ Sep 24th 2007 4:22PM]

Amen to that. All the companies that won't recognize the iPod's & the iTunes Music Store's potential and plain lock them out will ultimately have to face the music. ;-)
A perfect example where ignorance and arrogance from these companies defy Apple's customers, and ultimately bite the dust.

[Garst @ Sep 24th 2007 1:57PM]

Like customers are really going to take their credit for the service. It Virgin Mobile doesn't refund the credit, I'm sure there'll be a lawsuit that Virgin will lose. You just can't take people's money like that, especially if you don't make a much more public announcement that you're going to do it.

[Darran @ Sep 24th 2007 2:14PM]

This may have something to do with the Virgin group selling Virgin Megastores and declaring itself out of the entertainment retailing market entirely...

...on the other hand it might not.

[Sclath @ Sep 24th 2007 4:20PM]

NBC take note...pissing off your customer base by making it harder to get content = lose money.

[eurobloke @ Sep 24th 2007 6:16PM]

As a (former) customer of Virgin Digital, they were petty good, nice big selection, and easy to use, just a few clicks and away you go. However, this has come to bane of Fruitzilla, whose system with iPod/iTunes, freezing everyone else out.

Hopefully this could lead to prosecutor pile of the competition authorities, as an example of Fruitzilla's vertical monopoly hurting competitors and consumers.

[rento @ Sep 24th 2007 6:29PM]

"Being Apple unfriendly didnt help"... Well it certainely doesnt help being such Apple fanboys Engadget!

[Version 1.0 @ Sep 24th 2007 7:59PM]

In totally un-related news (i think)... Virgin wanted my YouTube username from me... Got an email from YouTube support... So i said ok and gave it to them...

[Costas @ Sep 25th 2007 5:31AM]

I think the lesson to be learned from this is not the fact that Virgin should have made its service iPod friendly but rather the fact that what happened to Virgin's customers could ALSO happen to those of iTunes!

Remember, companies come and go... ...and if DRM has its way, so will your music collection!

[Christopher Levy @ Sep 25th 2007 1:51PM]

Virgin Digital failed because they were terrible at marketing their service, had no vertial integration with device or traffic partners and thought their splashy heritage would make them a success. No such luck. That coupled with Napster's very aggressive marketing and wider array of features sealed their fate.

I think it's interesting that this audience thinks it's ok for Apple to have a complete lock-in on the DRM on their devices and not license their "FairPlay" DRM technology.

Given that companies like NBC and Napster and 1000's of others are using the widely available and licensed Windows Media Rights manager, shouldn't Apple be the one's playing fair?


Christopher Levy
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http://www.thedrmblog.com