Wow, that's a cakewalk! I just walked through it and consolidated my licenses to my replacement 360. I'm not sure why I had three entries when I've only had 2 360s though.
[Edit] Oh! I bet it's because I signed in on a friend's 360 so we could play some of my XBLA games.
This really has me excited as an XBOX user. Definitely demonstrates a bit of corporate learning, a newfound level of customer service and an extended value for our DRM purchases.
Well before I get too impressed, the tool can only be used once every 12 months.... that should be enough. I guess.
It works great. My son now has access to the full version of Assault Heroes without me being signed in. Now they need to organize the Download History section. Everything; demos, trailers, XBLA trials and full versions, and gamerpic packs; are all just thrown into one scrollable column. Bleh.
Awesome! Maybe I'll get an elite with my stimulus check.
Lots to update on my system, I hope my 360 is a healthy one, not just having a "healthy go" at staying alive.
So it looks like you can indeed use this tool to transfer licenses to a console that you bought as a replacement or one you had replaced by the store rather than through Microsoft. That's very good, though the once per year restriction seems a little strict to me considering how frequently these things break. I don't let them off the hook for taking so damn long to come up with this solution but it's very good they did.
EDIT: OK, after watching the instructional video, this tool is more of a pain than I thought. I thought it automatically authorized your replacement console with your licenses. It doesn't. You actually have to go through the same process you do after a repair where you have to manually re-authorize each item by selecting Download Again. You don't actually redownload the content, it just quickly authorizes it. The last time I had to do this after service, it took my 96 minutes to reauthorize everything. You also don't need to use it if you console is replaced by Microsoft as they take care of this automatically. Still good they're doing it but the unintuitive nature of this process is still stupid.
Microsoft really needs to add filtering options for this crap... I had to go through 500+ items that I downloaded, and not only its annoying to scroll trough 6 items at a time but just to select an item to re-download takes like 10 sec. Arh! 
It's a pain. And it's 2 years too late. And it fixes a problem that should have never been (DRM).
All the same, good on them for finally getting their act together.
Sorry for the thread revival, but I have a question. My 360 died recently and I started up the repair process. I also bought an Arcade unit a few days ago to replace it. I am currently using that unit with my previous 20 GB hard drive.
Now that I have the MS coffin in hand, do I need to do anything before I send off the dead 360? Once they send me back a repaired/refurbished one, I probably will still continue using the new Arcade unit. After I receive the repaired/refurbed one, I may want to sell it or simply keep it around as a spare.
As I understand it, MS will transfer the licenses from my dead 360 to the one that they're going to send me. If I don't want them to do that, should I make a note of it before I return it, or maybe do the license transfer to the new Arcade unit right now, before they receive my dead 360?
You can use their DRM migration tool to transfer your licenses to your new arcade unit but I recommend doing this only after your replacement unit arrives. If you run it before, they may do a transfer again to your replacement unit and since you can only use the tool once a year, you'd be out of luck. If you wait until the replacement comes back, you can run the tool and make sure everything moves to your new Arcade.
I agree with Parallax. Sending a note will not work. The guy who opens the box will just throw it away. I'd wait until I got the refurbished unit back, and then do the transfer to my new console.
I would also say this should only be an issue if you regularly use your 360 without an internet connection. I had my 360 replaced once due to a dead DVD drive, did not do the migration (I used it for roughly a year before that was even available anyway) and have had no DRM issues since it's always connected to the internet. If you want to save that once-a-year transfer, having an internet connection will do just fine.
I would also say this should only be an issue if you regularly use your 360 without an internet connection.
Or if you have kids or other people you want to be able to play full games without you being signed in.
You can use their DRM migration tool to transfer your licenses to your new arcade unit but I recommend doing this only after your replacement unit arrives. If you run it before, they may do a transfer again to your replacement unit and since you can only use the tool once a year, you'd be out of luck. If you wait until the replacement comes back, you can run the tool and make sure everything moves to your new Arcade.
I agree with Parallax. Sending a note will not work. The guy who opens the box will just throw it away. I'd wait until I got the refurbished unit back, and then do the transfer to my new console.
Thanks, that makes sense.
I would also say this should only be an issue if you regularly use your 360 without an internet connection. I had my 360 replaced once due to a dead DVD drive, did not do the migration (I used it for roughly a year before that was even available anyway) and have had no DRM issues since it's always connected to the internet. If you want to save that once-a-year transfer, having an internet connection will do just fine.
Hmm. I was just testing stuff out the other night, and I couldn't get the full version of Braid to come up, but the full version of Geometry Wars came up just fine. I had an internet connection and I was most likely signed in under my gold account. Maybe I was doing something else wrong.
NSMike wrote:I would also say this should only be an issue if you regularly use your 360 without an internet connection.
Or if you have kids or other people you want to be able to play full games without you being signed in.
Ah. Well, then, I guess this reveals my unmarried, childless, and lonely status.
Hmm. I was just testing stuff out the other night, and I couldn't get the full version of Braid to come up, but the full version of Geometry Wars came up just fine. I had an internet connection and I was most likely signed in under my gold account. Maybe I was doing something else wrong.
Did you buy Geometry Wars on the console you were using? The DRM only affects things that you originally purchased on another console.
Going forward, anything you buy on your new console will be tied to that console.
Yoyoson wrote:Hmm. I was just testing stuff out the other night, and I couldn't get the full version of Braid to come up, but the full version of Geometry Wars came up just fine. I had an internet connection and I was most likely signed in under my gold account. Maybe I was doing something else wrong.
Did you buy Geometry Wars on the console you were using? The DRM only affects things that you originally purchased on another console.
Going forward, anything you buy on your new console will be tied to that console.
Nah, both Braid and Geometry Wars 2 (I misspoke, it was actually the sequel that I tested) were purchased on the previous console. I only tried it for a few minutes. Hopefully I'll have time to look into it some more tonight.
My word this tool was hard to find. GoogleFu couldnt help. I had to dig up this thread. Now I'm 'redownloading' all the hundred or so arcade titles, DLCs, etc that I bought on the old console. I say 'redownloading' because Im using the same hard drive but the 'Download Again' feature is required to re-associate it so that I can play any arcade title or downloaded song when Im offline. The redownload is nearly instant, but it takes scrolling to it, selecting it, selecting Download Again and moving on to the next one. PITA
I keep hitting the max # of queued downloads (29 max) because Im finding some stuff that it needs to fully redownload like games or DLC I removed to save space before I found the option to disable automatic XBLA trial downloads. Overall: Effing annoying, but worthwhile. It would have been nice if they just left out the 2nd license for the console and avoided the mess, but at least you can work around it.
Thank you, Microsoft. I had to wait 8 months after purchasing a new Xbox to use the migration tool. Now, I get to go through 578 items that were authorized to my last 2 consoles. You remember those, don't you? You know, the consoles that fried. Leaving me unable to play my Rock Band songs at friends' houses. Oh yeah, and that was a cute trick how you wouldn't let me play some of my Arcade games, even when I was signed in to Xbox Live. You said that I was playing the trial version, but I could purchase if I liked.
So, I'll just be over here re-authorizing all these things that I bought from you. See you in a couple hours.
OK. I need some help. I'm looking at my download history and when I try to re-download the digital rights of items that I downloaded on older consoles it's acting as if I don't own them. I've got a couple hundred Rock Band songs and it will not give me the option to re-download, only purchase. Has anyone else had this problem?
OK. I need some help. I'm looking at my download history and when I try to re-download the digital rights of items that I downloaded on older consoles it's acting as if I don't own them. I've got a couple hundred Rock Band songs and it will not give me the option to re-download, only purchase. Has anyone else had this problem?
I had a similar issue recently when I received my 360 back. For some reason, I would sign in to Xbox Live ok, but then when I went to the account management to re-download my stuff, it would say that it couldn't communicate with Live even though I was still signed in and everything. Then, every time I went into an item that was in my history, it looked like I didn't 'own' it and did not give me the option to download it again. I ended up rebooting not just the 360, but my router and modem and the issue hasn't occurred since. Now, the issue you're experiencing is probably not exactly the same as mine, but it might be worth a shot since some elements sound awfully similar.
I don't know why, but that worked. I can re-download everything now. Thanks. =D
Also, I think its kind of funny that, when I couldn't just re-download everything, it was telling me that the Gears 2 flashback maps cost 99999 Microsoft points.
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