"I have been trying to get Roxio to reactivate my serial number because I already installed their software three times," the reader wrote about a version of Easy CD & DVD Creator that she'd downloaded from Roxio's website several months earlier. "As I often use my system to test hardware configuration, I had recently had some trouble with a hard drive that I removed, reinstalled, and then made the second drive. I guess this caused me to use up the three activations Roxio gives you."

The reader had been unable to either re-download the software or to get Roxio to reactivate the program. "I used their customer service web mail to request reactivation, but all I got back was a classical 'don't call us, we'll call you' message that warned me not to submit additional e-mail as it might delay their response. I haven't received an answer -- any answer. Since they warn me that multiple letters may slow down service, I guess I get to wait until they do something or I die of old age."

Since DRM technology for software typically is tied to the user's hard drive, it is certainly not uncommon for someone like our reader to have to reactivate after re-configuring their hardware. Roxio's limit of three installations seemed a little tight, but what really struck me was the reader's inability to get Roxio to respond to her request. So I went to study the information on Roxio's website about their product activation and … I couldn't find any.

Now, for all the guff I've given Microsoft, Intuit, Symantec, etc. about their DRM, I must admit that they do provide a fair amount of information about their copy protection, at least if you look for it. With Roxio, though, the very existence of its activation scheme seemed to be almost a state secret. In fact, I went through the process of purchasing download versions of Roxio's current products right to the verge of submitting my credit card without seeing a hint of product activation/copy protection/DRM being involved.

The Roxio spokesman I contacted about the reader's plight explained to me that the majority of Creator 6.x and 7.0 customers don't have copy-protected software, because only the downloaded versions have product activation. "Roxio only includes an activation mechanism with its ESD (Electronic Software Distribution) version," the spokesman said. "Creator 7 was a mammoth development effort that was completed in an extremely short amount of time. We simply did not have the cycles to consider, test, and implement an activation mechanism for the retail version. For the ESD version, our third-party e-commerce service vendor offers an activation mechanism that had already been widely tested and could be implemented with little effort."

In other words, the ESD copy protection is something of a pilot program for Roxio. "Looking at ESD and activation, there is solid proof that it has had an impact in fighting piracy. We continue to consider including activation in our retail version in the future, but do not have firm plans to do so as yet."

Roxio's spokesman did graciously offer to look into the reader's situation if she wanted to contact him. She did so, and Roxio eventually determined that her software should be reactivated. So she's happy ... except, since she does reconfigure her system a lot, she wonders how long it'll be before she's stuck again. Had she known when she known when she downloaded that it was copy protected this way, would she have purchased it, or would she for the same priced have ordered the CD instead?

I think even those of us who don't mess with our hardware a lot would have the same answer to that question: give me the version without copy protection, please. If Roxio truly wants to use its ESD activation as a pilot program, it should make it clear to customers what they're getting before they put their money down. Only by honestly disclosing their DRM will Roxio get solid proof of the impact it will have not just in fighting piracy, but on their sales as well.

Update [2004-7-12 14:25:40 by Ed Foster]:As noted in this comment below, Roxio has now changed the "Download FAQs" on its website to give customers a more conspicuous notice of its product activation.

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