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What happened to free?

by: Jeremy -
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Microsoft, Microsoft... why do you do this over and over?  We can add another "product" to the list of things Microsoft originally provided free of charge to only to sell later.  First it was the dreaded 360 coffin, which will now cost you, and now it is the HD Transfer Kit.
 
The HD Transfer Kit was originally included in retail packages with the 120 GB Xbox 360 hard drive.  If you happened to purchase an HD without one, you simply had to call a 1-800 number and the big M would send you one out free of charge.  I know that I had gone through those hoops myself, after purchasing a used 120 GB from a local game store.  A simple phone call to the Microsoft customer service was all that it took for me to get a full transfer kit at no additional charge.
 
It doesn't look like you will be able to do that any more as Microsoft has begun packaging the kit and selling it through their online store for $14.99 according to Blast Magazine.  Reports have stated that they have actually been charging for the kit for a little while now, which was news to me, but it was never bundled and pitched as a stand-alone product... until now.  If you make the jump to a bigger hard drive... or look to if and when the 250 BG drives ever get officially released on their own, you had better throw another $15 bucks into you budget if you want to easily move everything over to your new drive...