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For those worried about getting shafted by Microsoft due to their decision to cease maintaining MSN Music DRM servers, there seems to be hope. The company has seen the error of their ways (hopefully) and now claims that they will continue operating the key-issuing servers until at least 2011.

It's still not a perfect solution, selling people content you can intentionally cripple later down the road, but provides several more years of uninterrupted service for those who got hooked into buying music through MSN's Music portal. Interestingly, Microsoft's official statement says that the decision came after “careful consideration.” When 2011 rolls around, this same issue will likely arise, at which time Microsoft claims they will evaluate how many people are still using the servers to retrieve keys and then make a decision on how to support them.