All right, I have to ask: how many people out there have ACTUALLY bought music from Microsoft?

Or better yet: how many people actually KNEW Microsoft had their own music store?

Well, the music store is no longer: MSN Music ceased operations in late 2006, after a botched launch and a total lack of support from MS. Way to counter that whole iTunes threat!

But, while the music store is long gone, its legacy is not coming back to bite the few actual customers in the ass. Microsoft has announced that the Digital Rights Management used to control the access to the music that was sold will expire in August of this year, meaning that the music that people THOUGHT they “owned,” will no longer be playable:

“As of August 31st, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,” Microsoft said in an e-mail that was sent Tuesday to former MSN Music customers.

That means consumers who purchased songs from MSN Music and who want to port their library to a new device — in case of, say, a hardware failure or desire to upgrade — won’t be able to do so after the end of August.

Given the life of today’s computer hardware and mobile devices, Microsoft’s decision effectively places an expiration date of about three to five years on song libraries that MSN Music customers thought they had purchased for life.

So, because Microsoft flubbed in their first attempts at a music store, those who actually tried the service and supported it through their music-purchasing dollars are getting screwed. Thanks, Microsoft! Makes you really confident about purchasing music from their existing Zune store, right?

Too bad for Steve Ballmer, videos of the Microsoft CEO’s abject Asperger’s-induced chimp-like stupidity carry no DRM restrictions whatsoever…