The store utilized Microsoft's Windows Media Player application and proprietary Windows Media Format files (protected .wma files).

[citation needed] It started out with 1.5 million songs, but decreased to 1.1 million songs due to lagging sales and lack of real support from Microsoft.

[1] In 2006, when announcing the closing of MSN Music in the United States, Microsoft promised users that license servers would be maintained for five years but in April 2008, Microsoft announced that the DRM servers for MSN Music would be deactivated on 2008-08-31.

After this date, it was no longer possible to reauthorize purchased songs when changing computers or operating systems.

[3] They later relented, and committed to keeping the DRM servers online through the end of 2011.