(Brief explaination about the issue.)
So, if you purchased an Xbox Live Arcade title like Pac-Man, with your profile, on your current Xbox 360, then it's 100% unlocked and fully playable to anyone who uses that console; regardless of what profile they're signed into. Now, if the content (Pac-Man) is 'migrated' to the new Xbox 360 Elite system from your old Xbox 360's hard drive, that's when things get confusing... the game will ONLY be fully playable by the profile that purchased / downloaded the content, and they MUST BE SIGNED INTO XBOX LIVE for this to happen. No other profile that logs into the new Xbox 360 will be able to play the full version of Pac-Man... PERIOD.

1. I own an HDTV that only accepts a 1080p signal through the HDMI port.
2. My wife & son have their own profiles & enjoy earning their own achievements.
3. I don't purchase premium content soley for myself.
4. I've purchased 39+ Xbox Live Arcade titles including the obscenely priced Lumines Live & extra content.
5. I've purchased premium content for several games for everyone in my house to use.
6. I own, at this point, far too many Xbox 360 games.... in other words I've invested an @$$ load of money in Microsoft and their console already! (Things get especially frustrating when I take the hundreds of Xbox 1 games I've purchased into consideration.)

I, like many of you, feel taken advantage of... If you're one of the 'minority' out there that don't see an issue with how Microsoft is handling the Xbox 360 issues, or haven't been following the 'events' that have taken place since the console launched, here's a brief re-cap.

1. The failure rate of the Xbox 360 appears to be fairly high, especially with the consoles that were sold at launch.
2. Microsoft finally admits that there was a problem and will replace or fixes the dead xbox 360 consoles that were purchased at launch... if you paid for service before they took responsibility for the problem they'd be refunding your repair costs. (This is a very good thing. It restored many 360 owners faith in Micro$oft.)
3. Dead Xbox 360 consoles that were replaced would not allow premium content that was purchased on the 'dead' system to be playable unless the user is logged into Xbox Live.
4. Microsoft realizes the necessity of a larger capacity hard drive and a Microsoft representative says the solution would be to purchase another 20 GIG HDD for the console; $99.99 (1 HDD would be for game content, the other would be for trailers, movies, demos, etc.)
5. Early in the Xbox 360's life cycle, a Microsoft representative basically said that HDMI wasn't a necessary feature for the Xbox 360 to have. It was also said that if a the consumer demand for HDMI output was high enough they would provide a 'solution'.
6. The 'solution' to the "HDMI issue" is to purchase another $480 console... The Xbox 360 Elite.
7. Microsoft released the 120 GIG HDD with supplied transfer cable & software; $179.99
8. The software / transfer cable will not 'migrate' content from two 20 GIG HDD's, so anyone who took Microsoft's advice and purchased an additional drive will have to forget about the content on one of the two drives.... or keep a 20 GIG drive to access that content.
9. During a Major Nelson 'blogcast' it was mentioned that they were working on a 'solution' for all of the people who were upgrading their Xbox 360 to the Xbox 360 Elite and wanted to migrate all of their current content to the 120 GIG HDD of the new console.
10. The 'solution' for anyone migrating data from the Xbox 360 to the Xbox 360 Elite was made public on Major Nelson's (Larry Hyrb) blog..... They'll send you a free cable and software to take care of the migration, but all of the premium content you purchased will be unplayable / locked if you're not signed into Xbox Live with the same profile that purchased the content. (If you're a person who has a console that isn't always connected to the internet / Xbox Live you're screwed.)

Check out the comments section of that topic in Mr. Hyrb's blog, or the 50+ page post in the Xbox.com forums... you'll see that I'm not the only customer who feels 'screwed'. (There's even a website called Broken Xbox Live Marketplace out there!)

1. Do NOT buy premium content via Xbox Live Marketplace or Xbox Live until a REAL solution to the DRM issues.
2. Be vocal. Let the world know that these 'solutions' are inadequate / unacceptable.
   NOTE: You don't have to be rude to get you point across. A well thought out & rational email will be read and responded to much faster than a massive rant written in all caps or "1337 speak".

Now here's my final two cents... My suggestions to Microsoft regarding the DRM / premium content problem:

1. Use the iTunes method of DRM. Allow the user to authorize / de-authorize up to 5 Xbox 360's so the content can be moved when the console dies or is replaced.
2. Issue 'codes' to people that legitimately purchased a new Xbox 360 console that would allow them to download, to their new console, the specific content they've already purchased... for free.
3. Send discs to people containing the downloadable content / Xbox Live arcade titles that they've purchased so that they can use the content when not connected to Xbox Live. (Not very cost effective & highly ullikely.)
4. Refund all of the Microsoft points that were used to purchase the premium content so that it may be repurchased on the new console.
5. Remove DRM from all content except for Movies / TV shows. (This one is just as unlikely as #4... but it's still a solution.)

UPDATE:
Microsoft is, for a limited time, offering the transfer cable to all Xbox 360 Elite owners..... for free. An authorization form must be filled out and submitted to receive the transfer cable and software disc. The authorization form asks for the serial number from the CORE or PRO Xbox 360 console, as well as the serial number from the Elite system you've purchased.

Does this mean that our plea for a DRM change has been heard? Will the serial numbers we provide help change the console ID that our downloadable content is liked to when 'migtrating'? I'm not sure... I haven't read anything official yet.

C'mon Microsoft... your loyal customers just want to get what they paid for; I have faith that you'll satisfy us in the end. After all, not letting my family play the live arcade games that I've purchased for us all, is like a a movie company telling me that my wife and son can't watch the DVD's I've purchased. I don't think it would go over well if SONY pictures told people they had to purchase another copy of Spider-Man for eeach person in a family if the DVD player in their living room broke.

Please don't let this issue go unresolved; let your voice be heard:
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