Questions about offline/online licences

Most DLC is licensed to two things, the account which bought it and the console it was first downloaded to. The big exception to this is Avatar items.

The first license lets you play that content on any console as long as their is a connection to LIVE. The second, console, license lets you play content offline as well as letting other accounts use the DLC.

So if you wish to share the DLC with your nephew you should put your profile onto his 360 and purchase and download the content there. This would give him the console license and enable him to play those games offline when he returns home.

You could then download the content on your 360 and play it when connected to LIVE. You could also do the license transfer at a later date to give you the console license as well, doing that though would affect your nephew if he deleted the content and wished to download it again on future visits. 

The thing is, the content is primarily for him to play on his console offline, whereas me downloading it to my console with the online licence is more of an afterthought.

So what I want to know is, should his Xbox break and need replacing, and the content needed to be transferred to the new console, would my downloading the content to my console on the live licence affect his ability to re- download to his new console on an offline licence?

If his console needed replacing then you'd need to do a license transfer to the new 360 in order for him to be able to play the content offline.

A license transfer is an all or nothing deal. It will give the console license for every piece of content to that 360 that the account purchased. Remember to do the license transfer first and then download the content. You would be giving him the console/offline license for every piece of content you have bought on your account, not just those downloaded on his old console.

So if you are worried about his console dying then it would be a better idea to promote his gamertag to a LIVE one and buy the content with it. That way the licenses remain separate between you and him.

He'll be able to use the newly promoted gamertag perfectly fine offline. The only issue would be that during the promotion process he'll be assigned a random gamertag, he'll then have one free change to turn it to something of his own choice. It is entirely possible that the name he has on his local profile wont be available after he promotes. 

Ok I think I'll keep everything separate from my account, promote his gamertag to a live one, and download all the content to his console.

So it sounds like I can't just keep the gamertag name the same when I promote it to a live one, assuming it hasn't already been taken by someone else, as a random one is assigned?

And once a random gamertag has been assigned, I might be able to change it to the same name as his offline gamertag, but only if that name hasn't been taken by someone else already? And if it were available, would the console have a problem with there being two gamertags with the same name, or would it be ok as long as one is online and one is offline?

Maybe the best solution would be to buy the content using the randomly-assigned online gamertag, and don't bother renaming it, and then he could play that new content offline with his main gamertag (with it all being console licences), and then he could play all of his existing games (including current saves), and also the new games, correct?

[quote user="ianpwilliams"]Ok I think I'll keep everything separate from my account, promote his gamertag to a live one, and download all the content to his console.[/quote]That'd be best in case there are any issues in the future.

[quote user="ianpwilliams"]So it sounds like I can't just keep the gamertag name the same when I promote it to a live one, assuming it hasn't already been taken by someone else, as a random one is assigned?[/quote]A random one is assigned but once the promotion is complete you get one free change to pick something you like.

Microsoft simply changed the point at which you pick your gamertag.

[quote user="ianpwilliams"]And once a random gamertag has been assigned, I might be able to change it to the same name as his offline gamertag, but only if that name hasn't been taken by someone else already? And if it were available, would the console have a problem with there being two gamertags with the same name, or would it be ok as long as one is online and one is offline?[/quote]Yes you'll only be able to change it to the original name providing it doesn't already exist on LIVE.

For example you could create an offline gamertag on your console called voteDC but the moment you tried to promote it to a LIVE account, Silver or Gold, you'd be unable to have that name.

When you promote an account and it is made into a LIVE account, the 'offline' one ceases to exist as it is effectively replaced. The newly promoted account will have the same achievements and be able to access the same saves as before. Your nephew will lose nothing he has on his account at the moment except potentially the name of it.

[quote user="ianpwilliams"]Maybe the best solution would be to buy the content using the randomly-assigned online gamertag, and don't bother renaming it, and then he could play that new content offline with his main gamertag (with it all being console licences), and then he could play all of his existing games (including current saves), and also the new games, correct?[/quote]If he is genuinely attached to the name then creating a completely new account on his console to download the content would be an ideal solution. 

Maybe I could see if his offline gamertag is available online first, and if it is then promote it to a live one, and if it isn't, then choose a random one and use that. Either way it sounds like he will be able to play all of the content on his console, offline, with any gamertag.

Thanks for the help anyway, it's good to know all the information in what can be quite a complicated area!