Wal-Mart dumps DRM, gives users the bird
p2pnet news view Music | DRM:- With Yahoo Music’s demise in the background, “Customers of Wal-Mart’s digital music service will be in for a big shock very soon, just as Yahoo Music customers were,” says Read Write Web.
How come?
Wal-Mart is shutting down its DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control servers on October 9.
Thus, “If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD,” says the company, according to the story.
“By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer.”
Subnet puts it like this »»»
Hey suckers! Did you buy DRM music from Wal*Mart instead of downloading MP3s for free from the P2P networks? Well, they’re repaying your honesty by taking away your music. Unless you go through a bunch of hoops (that you may never find out about, if you’ve changed email addresses or if you’re not a very technical person), your music will no longer be playable after october 9th.
Over at the store, reachable only if you have Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, although “We will be making enhancements to our updated version in the future to support the Firefox browser,” it’s business as usual with no obvious indication the service is on the edge.
Says Read Write Web, “DRM restrictions ties all of your songs to your computer. To sum things up, customers will now have to back-up all of their downloads or risk losing them all. Because of the DRM restrictions on these files, you won’t be able to transfer their music anywhere else.
“If you were to reinstall your operating system or simply purchase a new computer, Wal-Mart’s shutdown of their DRM server would prevent you from taking your music somewhere else.
“Talk About a Waste of Money.”
Subnet has the full Wal-Mart Monty, to wit »»»
From: Walmart Music Team Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 7:42 PM Subject: Important Information About Your Walmart.com Digital Music Purchases To: xxxxxx@gmail.com Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability of Walmart’s MP3 music downloads. We began offering MP3s in August 2007 and have offered only DRM (digital rights management) -free MP3s since February 2008. As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site. If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free. Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer. Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use. Walmart Music Team
(Thanks, f4te)
Yahoo Music’s demise – Yahoo Music dies tomorrow. Official., September 29, 2008
Read Write Web – Wal-Mart Gives Consumers Number 1 Reason Why DRM is Not the Answer, September 27, 2008
Subnet – Wal*Mart shutting down DRM server, nuking your music collection, September 26, 2008
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September 29th, 2008 at 11:58 am
“Hey suckers!”
Indeed.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
One of the main reasons DRM is a dog. When you spend money for such infected files, you have kissed that money goodbye. Sooner or later it becomes apparent to big business that DRM server support is wasted money better spent elsewhere.
In return the buyer must now jump through a lot of hoops to hold on to what they bought. Great move in encouraging your customers to continue business.
For myself, I would not and will not buy such infected files. They can keep them and I will keep my money for something that is actually worth spending it on. DRM infected files are akin to buying air. When done paying for it you’ll have to look hard to find your value in the long run.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
well at least they emailed and told people how to backup their music. now they just need to provide a link to afterdawn for instructions on how to get them back to mp3 versions so they can play them on what ever the hell they want
September 29th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I love DRM, it’s amazing how the music industry thinks this will make people want to buy music.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
*grins*
September 30th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Just wait until the day when iTunes eliminates it’s DRM and royally screws people out of several billion dollars worth of purchased music.
“Won’t ever happen”, huh? Well, that’s exactly what’s been happening with DRM-infected files from several companies that we were assured would never happen.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Hmm….did SOMEBODY say DRM was a “fair solution”?
DRM cannot work. Now the companies TRYING it are telling people to BREAK it, when they shut down.
Why not just offer un-corrupted (DRM-free) files in the first place, and save the extra bullshit?)
Oh wait — it’s all about the “right” of “content creators”, I fergot.
My bad.