For those of you wondering, the tool is helpful for those who have had more than 1 360. If you purchased two arcade games on your first 360, they would be licensed to that console's ID. Now say you purchased an Elite when they were released and purchased dozens of other arcade games. You are allowed to redownload those first two games, but they are still licensed to your old console's ID and cannot be played while not connect to Xbox Live. This tool will allow you to transfer those two games to your current console's ID.
Main Points:
-The DRM tool allows you to transfer licenses from one console to another. For instance, if you bought a console a year ago and downloaded a bunch of content but then bought a new console this year and downloaded more content, you couldn't play all of the content on both 360s without being signed into LIVE. With this tool, you can consolidate all of the downloaded content licenses to your preferred console. This way, you don't have to be signed into LIVE to play.
-The process takes less than a minute. There is no content being transferred, only licenses.
- This process will work on any console so if you had to trade an Xbox 360 at a local retailer, you can still use the tool to migrate your information. However, you can only do this once every year (365 Days). If you send the console to Microsoft to be repaired, they will automatically update all of your licenses. For more information on console repair, visit: http://www.xbox.com/support.
-If you bought a larger hard drive and are re-downloading your licensed content for the same console, then you should not need the DRM tool. However, if you used the Migration cable to transfer your content from an older console to a newer one, you will need to use the tool to update the licenses. Again, you can only do this once a year.
-You will still be able to play all of the games you own on all of your consoles as long as you're signed-in to LIVE. The console you transferred your licenses to will be the one that you can use without having to be signed-in.
-The tool will work with all content except movies. Movies are not "download-to-own" so the licenses are not transferrable.
Xbox-Scene has also had a chance to sit down with Marc Whitten, the general manager of Xbox Live, to talk about the new tool:
XS: How does the tool work? Can we reauthorize content from console to console, or enable on multiple consoles (ala PS3)? If so, how many consoles?
MW: The process is really easy. The Xbox.com DRM tool lets you consolidate all of your downloaded content licenses to one console. So let's say you downloaded UNO from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and an episode of South Park from the Video Store on your Xbox 360, and then upgraded to an Elite down the line and downloaded more games and videos on the new console. In this scenario your content would be licensed to two consoles, and by using the DRM tool you could then download your older content licenses to your new console. With this tool you can transfer licenses from multiple consoles to a single console.
XS: Is the DRM tool capable of fixing all downloadable content issues, from XBLA titles to content downloaded for specific games (something like Rock Band, Guitar Hero music for example) to things like Xbox Live Marketplace videos?
MW: All games and entertainment content can be transferred except movies downloaded from the Xbox LIVE Video Store. Movies can't be transferred because they are only available for rent. But everything else-- TV shows, music videos, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, map packs, etc, can be transferred by using this tool.
The original interview can be read here.
