213450 - buymusic.com - blocks all browsers and OSes except IE/Win.

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: English US, defect)

Description

[Greg Mitchell]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

The website buymusic.com only allows access if you're running Internet Explorer
on Microsoft Windows. If you're using any other browser on any other OS, you're
re-directed to: http://buymusic.com/ierequired.htm. Even when the UA string is
spoofed to display IE for Windows, the site still re-directs to ierequired.htm

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Visit http://buymusic.com/ in any browser other than IE for Windows.
2. The server re-directs to http://buymusic.com/ierequired.htm
3. User of non-MS browser and OS get rather miffed!

Actual Results:  
Re-directed to ierequired.htm page.

Comment 1

[Bill Mason]

Verified.  According to news.com's story about the site at
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5052388.html
=====
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on the site goes on to explain that
the site uses a Microsoft proprietary technology called ActiveX in order to
unlock Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls that aim to prevent unauthorized
distribution.

"Your browser must be Internet Explorer," the page reads. "If you browse the
site with Netscape you cannot purchase and download music. The reason is that
your music files are wrapped in DRM encryption, which is unencrypted by the
license that you download when you download the music file. The license download
requires and (sic) Active-X control which is only compatible with Internet
Explorer. Without it you cannot download your license and your music stays
encrypted and unusable."
=====

Comment 2

[Sam Katz]

Yet it does say it should be browsable. Spoofing the user agent does not help.

I say we push for web standards like FTP.. what do you guys think?

Comment 3

[Sam Katz]

[e-mail] is the address to complain to. 

slashdot.org as usual has great coverage, as does CNEY (unusually).

A slashdot reader had a great point--licenses can be delivered after/with the 
downloads. There is no need to use an ActiveX control.

Comment 4

[Shark Daddy (Jonathan L.)]

Hey, if that FAQ states their prerogative to be that, they being a company that
wants business, I think a low priority can be assigned to this one. If anybody
still does evangelism :)

Comment 5

[PJC]

The spoofed user-agent string doesn't work because they check navigator.appName.
 Due to a logic error in their script, it is possible to browse the site with
Opera and Konqueror, even when not spoofing as IE.

Comment 6

[Chris Casciano]

i don't seem to get blocked using camino or mozilla builds on OS X... do with FB
on win2k

Comment 7

[Bill Mason]

*** Bug 214058 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

I did a little research on the guy behind this and it is very unlikely you will
ever get him to change his business model. He is described as a serial entrepreneur.

Complain if you want or use another service.

Comment 9

[Tim Powell]

Turning off JavaScript lets you browse most of the site.

Comment 10

[Sam Katz]

They just released v. 1.2 which supposedly includes a new download manager which
can download albums with one-click. Everyone is so mad at buymusic.com for their
previous attempts that I cannot find more details. But I suspect that although
they still block Mozilla, that the download manager is a windows exe, and
therefore IE isn't required to download songs and licenses because they revamped
the process.

" Aliso Viejo, California-based BuyMusic.com is available to anyone with a PC
and Windows Media Player (a free download at BuyMusic.com). For more
information, please visit www.buymusic.com or call 1-800-BUYMUSIC"

Really, a PC and a WMA player.. does that mean Linux? Just kidding.

New features list:
Reducing clicks required at checkout-- download manager automatically manages
the downloading process of multi-file downloads with one click 
Download delivery option-- customer may specify delivery to the current computer
or to a different computer 
Additional 2,000 tracks added 
Personalization-- site now welcomes you by name 
Updated list of approved portable devices 
Customers can request to receive a message notifying them when a specific track
is available.

Somebody want to call this number and point out to them that Netscape 7.1 (brand
name helps) can browse their extensive samples, and maybe encourage them to make
it easy to purchase CDs.. that would be a step in the right direction.

--Sam

Comment 11

[Sam Katz]

For a WMA provider, BuyMusic (now part of Buy.com officially) has really cleaned
up their act. They now offer 256Kbps bitrate and have simplified the user
interface and ordering process to include a seperate download manager. It is
accessible from Firefox identifying as Firefox. Great Job with the
letter-writing campaign and negative feedback. 

Some bugs remain but they plague most of the web:
1. The usage rules link from each song does not work. (meaning usage rules are
not viewable from the product page.)
2. " " (") character entities are not encoded. This also affects Internet
Explorer. 

Resolve?

Can I have more priveleges? My mother is mad at me and that is in part due to a
timw delay caused by Bugzilla telling me I couldn't update the whiteboard or
change the resolution atatus.

--Sam
--Sam

Comment 12

[Felix Miata]

Conforming summary to TFM item 10 at 
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/tech-evangelism/site/procedures.html#file-new

Comment 13

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

block removed