Posted by Matthew Bendert in DRM, Music on September 29 2008
We’ve seen this before, but it still hurts every time. Walmart.com’s digital music service has announced in an e-mail to customers that it is going to shut down its DRM servers in about a week as it switches over to a completely DRM-free shopping experience. So, as of October 9, all you’ll be able to buy from Walmart.com is MP3s without digital rights management, but all the non-MP3 music you bought from them will no longer be transferable (without that obnoxious step of burning to CD and re-ripping them into MP3s).
While it’s nice to see the world’s largest retailer finally giving its customers what they want, those consumers that bought into the old ways of buying music are still getting hurt by the music industry’s previous unwillingness to give-up digital rights management. Sadly, this is a cautionary tale both to those of us who buy media, and other media outlets like the movie industry, that, in the end, DRM will only hurt you.
(via Ars Technica and Engadget)
Posted by Luc Gagnon in DRM, Fair Use, Music, iTunes on August 23 2007
In the world of digital music, it appears that hell has just frozen over. Right on the heels of the recent announcement by Universal Music that it would offer much of its catalog without digital rights management for the next few months, Wal-Mart (of all places) began offering DRM-free tracks by the music giant and fellow major label EMI for and iTunes beating 94 cents a song. Yes, you read that correctly. The worlds largest retailer has, in one price dropping instant, changed the music buying landscape to one where DRM-free music is both affordable and readily available. Not only are DRM-free tracks now widely for purchase without a subscription, but they are also cheaper than the industry standard 99 cents per song. Oh, and just for the record, for the last three days, the top downloaded song of the week at Wal-Mart was DRM-free “Big Girls Don’t Cry†by Fergie for $0.94. If we weren’t appalled by many of Wal-Mart’s other social or business practices, we’d be right there with the rest of America. Instead, we’re holding out to see what Amazon.com’s music store has to offer…
(via Reuters and Wal-Mart)
Posted by Matthew Bendert in Apple, DRM, Fair Use, Google, Music, iTunes on August 16 2007
Universal Music has committed trying out DRM-free music sales through January 2008 at such disparate music stores as Amazon.com, RealNetworks, BestBuy.com, Passalong Networks, Google, and Wal-Mart’s online music service. Additionally, Universal will be selling DRM-free tracks on its individual artist and label sites. Notice a name missing from that list? Yep, Universal gave a metaphorical finger to Apple’s iTunes, claiming that they don’t want to be held back by Apple’s iPod-centric site.
This is spectacular news for those that have long advocated abandoning digital rights management and moving toward a more reasonable music market. However, Copyleft: the magazine is only cautiously optimistic, as the success of Universal’s experiment will depend on how well it does during the crucial holiday season (it’s no coincidence that Universal has only committed to its experiment until January). It’s too early to say for sure, but this could be the beginning of a major shift in how we get music to a freer, fairer system.
(via the New York Times and Universal Music)
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