Last week Virgin Digital made a private apology via email to all of their subscribers and promised everything would be working by Wednesday (10th). I for one was not the least bit surprised when Wednesday came and went only for the long-standing error message I had been receiving (“Unable to retrieve download url”) to be replaced with a new one:
Problem with Purchase Unfortunately, there was a problem with your purchase. Extra Info : Machine can not be activated for dwnld/dwnld lic
Another week, another complaint to tech support. 5 days later and the only response I get tells me that I just need to reinstall Windows Media Player and force an upgrade of the WMA DRM components (“Oh, is that all,” I hear you mutter). Unsurprisingly, that made no difference whatsoever on either machine I tried it on.
Several people I’ve related this tale of woe to have rightly asked why I still bother with Virgin Digital. I liken it to some kind of game. The objective of this game for Virgin is to try and restore a service they once had perfectly under control and then deliberately broke. If they can’t manage that, their secondary objective is to at least retain some semblance of credibility. I think it’s fair to say that #2 is pretty much of of their reach at this point, while #1 is seeming pretty far from their grasp. My own objective, which was once to actually use the service, is now to simply document the deepening levels of incompetence Virgin Digital sink to in their pursuit of #1 and #2.
It’s now been three weeks since the new service was launched in a completely non-functional state, and less than two until the end of my current billing cycle. I’m sensing a refund request coming in two weeks’ time.
#1 by paulcapewell on 15 January, 2007 - 7.41 pm
Christ! Unbelievable.
Nice one documenting this all though, it truly is a farce.
As far as you can tell, is Virgin Digital a unique system, or is it a behind-the-scenes system branded by whoever wants to use it?
#2 by Jay on 15 January, 2007 - 11.20 pm
It is a bespoke system based on MusicNet‘s catalogue, created for Virgin Digital by Interesource, who host the site. There is slightly different branding for the US version (for example, the ‘Music Club’ is called ‘Red Pass’ in the US) but only Virgin use the system as far as I know.
I believe most of the actual development work is done by Interesource, while Virgin handle billing and support – in other words, they get to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong. They probably also handle updates to the media guide.
As an aside, Interesource’s other notable clients include EdExcel, Honda, and The Daily Telegraph. I can only assume they don’t normally fuck up as badly as they have done with Virgin. It’s also worth noting that while they designed the sites, they do not provide hosting to Honda or the Telegraph group, which probably explains why those websites are fast and responsive while both Virgin Digital and EdExcel are dog slow.
#3 by Anonymous on 17 January, 2007 - 9.08 am
I too am going through this recent phase of virgin’s move to web based service hell… and spotted this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2534350,00.html
it seems they have given up in the US…
they have offered me a refund of a month, but I kept telling them I couldn’t get into the ‘Payment Details’ page (“an error has occured”) to be able to supply (re-supply) my card details…
finally I got a message saying my account had been closed…
I re-registered (fool!) thinking something had gone wrong in the migration of accounts from the old to the new… nope… it’s still very bug ridden… I mainly now get errors saying “Content right not available for requested component” – to which Marcus replied “The error code you mention simply means we do
not have that music available for download right now. “
Good answer. But how does that help? It seems to happen with most of what I try to download…
Now, I find the ‘Subscription Manager’ .exe is telling me my brand new account is invalid… which would explain why nothing I actually do download ever plays…
#4 by Jay on 17 January, 2007 - 6.22 pm
Interesting link – so now the service is UK only it seems. I honestly won’t be too surprised if they follow suit here, though it will be a shame – the service is actually worth having when it works!
#5 by Anonymous on 18 January, 2007 - 1.29 pm
This pretty much covers the facts!
; )
Axel
VirginDigital
#6 by Anonymous on 18 January, 2007 - 1.32 pm
Extra Info : Machine can not be activated for dwnld/dwnld lic
Means that the PC count from the old site blocked the new site.
The site ‘thought’ there were 2 many PC’s registered.
Resetting the MusicNet machine count resolves the issue fully.
Sorry about all the exasperation caused!
Axel
VirginDigital
#7 by Anonymous on 18 January, 2007 - 1.33 pm
Let me know if the service works for you now and I will refund this months subscription!
With the very best regards,
Axel
VirginDigital
#8 by Jay on 18 January, 2007 - 5.46 pm
Hi again Axel, thanks for stopping by.
I just tried it out again and the error message has changed but I still can’t download – I now get the following message:
This happens on both my computers. CodeProject says this error means that “WMP has not received a license blob” while Microsoft simply list this error code as “NS_E_DRM_LICENSE_STORE_ERROR: License storage is not working.”
As you know I have a ticket open for the problem already so I will reply with this information to send it to the technical team.
#9 by Anonymous on 19 January, 2007 - 9.29 pm
Virign Digital Non-Supscription problems
I don’t use their subscription, but I have tried to purchase and download a track. The track I chose was 11 minutes long, and it always stops download somewhere between 4 and 5 MB (which is about 4-5 minutes of the track).
After asking for tech support many times (with no useful response) I was issued with a refund.
But I also got an interesting little snippet in their last communication – that downloads work for (quote) about 97% of our customers (end quote). No apology. No other ideas apart from try again.
So 3% of potential customers are basically just out of luck.
Good luck mate. And keep banging your head against that brick wall (if you want to read my opinion of virgin digital head to my blog at http://floatorgoat.blogspot.com/)
#10 by Jay on 19 January, 2007 - 11.55 pm
Re: Virign Digital Non-Supscription problems
When they were still using the old Virgin Digital Player software instead of the online web service they have now, that figure may have been accurate. I can’t believe it’s accurate any more.
#11 by Anonymous on 24 January, 2007 - 9.39 am
virgin digital woes…
So, have you any success yet? I am running out of patience with Virgin… they asked me to set up a new account so that they could put a refund of a month’s service onto my account… but another £9.99 has been taken with no sign of a refund.
So that’s 2 months of subscription payments with very limited / no service. Even if I do manage to download anything, which is rare amongst the endless ‘Content Right not available errors’ I still cannot play any tracks, as WMP can’t get a license to play it.
The so called ‘Subscription Manager’ checks my account at installation, and proceeds to install, but once up and running has another check and pops up with a box saying my accout is invalid…
What’s next?
#12 by Jay on 24 January, 2007 - 12.42 pm
Re: virgin digital woes…
I’ve heard nothing from Virgin since my last update. I tried downloading again last night just in case but still get the above error.
Earlier this month I was asked to update my subscription details as they were missing some of my card details. I wisely opted to wait until the system was working until doing so; as of now, I haven’t done it, and I’m now getting automated messages from Virgin saying they were unable to renew my subscription.
My existing subscription lapses in a few days, so if things aren’t sorted by then it will be goodbye Virgin. At that point I will be asking for a refund for last month as well, seeing as I haven’t been able to use the service since December.