Walmart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf

Walmart began selling DRM-free tracks in its music store in August of last year. 13 months later, the mega-corp has decided to follow the footsteps of so many others and hit the kill switch on its DRM management servers. As noted in an e-mail to customers, Wally World will be making the final transition into a fully DRM-free MP3 store on October 9th, and in order to keep those DRM-laden files playable on anything, it's recommended that you burn protected files on a CD on the double. If you choose to ignore this message, you'll be unable 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." Heed the warning, kids.

[Ashwin @ Sep 28th 2008 5:43PM]

Now for iTunes to go DRM-free AAC. DRM free iTunes tracks sound sooo much better than anything MP3. But, with the record companies trying to dethrone Apple, it is going to take a while.

[bob @ Sep 28th 2008 5:53PM]

Agreed, come on record lables, i have my money waiting for some aac drm freeness.

[Lamp @ Sep 28th 2008 5:56PM]

...what?
when did itunes start selling FLAC?

[Ashwin @ Sep 28th 2008 6:01PM]

@LAMP
No, AAC is not FLAC. AAC is lossless compression, which is more modern than the 10 year old MP3 format.

[Ashwin @ Sep 28th 2008 6:03PM]

Whoops, not lossless, but generally better than MP3.

[Big John @ Sep 28th 2008 6:07PM]

Just to be clear, DRM has zero impact on the actual quality of a track.

[Brent @ Sep 28th 2008 6:08PM]

@Ashwin

I think you meant to say that AAC is lossy, not lossless.

[JB @ Sep 28th 2008 6:12PM]

...and just to be clear(er), FLAC is better than AAC. AND MP3 V0 is not distinguishable from AAC and plays on more that just iTunes-laden rigs and PMPS.

[lorddshadow @ Sep 28th 2008 6:16PM]

@ Big John

yeah but the DRM-less tracks have a higher bitrate so they are better quality

[Ashwin @ Sep 28th 2008 6:18PM]

@JB
AAC plays on all MP3 players sold by Microsoft, Creative, iRiver, or any other brand. Obviously not FairPlay protected tracks.

[sr @ Sep 28th 2008 6:45PM]

Interesting how you first thought AAC is lossless and then you didn't even realize that FLAC exists and actually is lossless.

[tbone @ Sep 28th 2008 7:25PM]

yeah, it'd be nice if itunes sold their music in FLAC or even ALAC. i burnt some CD's with ALAC and they pretty good

[Enjolras @ Sep 28th 2008 10:04PM]

Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of your buds, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!

[Benson @ Sep 28th 2008 10:27PM]

In case someone hasn't figured it out yet:

.mp3=MPEG1 layer 3: lossy, worst quality/bitrate, but plays on everything. Patented.
.aac=MPEG2 part 7 / MPEG4 part 3: lossy, better than mp3; limited playback compatibility, but includes iStuff. Patented.
.ogg=Vorbis: lossy, better than mp3, limited playback compatibility. Not patented, makes penguiphiles very happy.
.flac=Free Lossless Audio Codec: lossless, most widely supported lossless codec, not patented.

[Michael Haney @ Sep 29th 2008 1:06AM]

Apple could take the RIAA to court and show that the RIAA is allowing other online music stores to go DRM free, so why not let them go DRM also. I would mean the RIAA wasn't playing fair, which they aren't, and are using underhanded, borderline illegal tactics to get rid of iTunes.

[Marvin Quach @ Sep 29th 2008 3:56PM]

@Benson

I love OGG but I hate penguins!!!

Don't group me, bro!

[0mega @ Sep 28th 2008 5:46PM]

Department of redundancy department here, I'd like to offer you a position as the head president chairman of our organization.

[stevejobss @ Sep 28th 2008 5:53PM]

iTunes FTW

[Jason @ Sep 28th 2008 5:59PM]

burning the protected files won't help you play them after recovery. you also need to backup your windows drm store, this can be done within WMP.

[JZK @ Sep 28th 2008 6:13PM]

burning to CD will if you burn them as audio and not MP3. i thought that's what they were suggesting. In either case, had I bought DRM music from Walmart I'd be mightily pissed that they decided to screw me over this way by shutting down their servers. I mean, come on - how much would it take to just leave them up so ppl could continue to just play what they paid for.

[Peter @ Sep 28th 2008 6:25PM]

JZK - Or allow you to download the new unprotected version for free. They're not really giving you anything "extra" by doing that, it just saves you a step and would be a nice customer relations move. (I can't believe I mentioned customer relations and Walmart in the same sentence)

[happy_penguin @ Sep 28th 2008 6:22PM]

If they're going to turn off the DRM servers they need to provide DRM free copies of the music people have purchased or give full refunds for what they purchased. This is bullshit.

[The Dude @ Sep 28th 2008 9:15PM]

FairUse4WM is your friend. And before anyone says "OMFG. Banhammered."...
http://engadget.com/2006/08/25/fairuse4wm-strips-windows-media-drm/

Search for the latest version. I've used it successfully.

[BigD145 @ Sep 28th 2008 6:23PM]

Jumping through hoops to preserve DRM laden content? This is just one reason why DRM stinks in the first place.

[Nick @ Sep 28th 2008 6:28PM]

Yeah I read about this earlier today, Walmart isn't the best company in the world. I don't and will never support wal-mart but I will be honest and say that they are starting to become better but just why would they want to stop selling songs? Maybe cause not many people downloaded them because they can download them from some wheres else such as iTunes Store, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, etc.

I'm sure its hard for wa-mart to compete with the composition, if there is one :P and I could be completely wrong.

[Chris Are @ Sep 28th 2008 8:41PM]

I totally disagree w/ this making Wal-mart better. This would make them better if Wal-mart sucked because they ripped people off. Aside from some crappy clothing (I think) Wal-mart sells typical merchandise.

Wal-mart sucks because they sell their items at slave-labor prices. They treat their employees like shit and destroy small business. Selling DRM-free music doesn't absolve them from that.

All they're doing here is trying to distance themselves from the heat DRM has been getting. And they can easily afford that.

Also, they're not discontinuing sales of music- they're discontinuing sales of DRM-Laden music. Their MP3s will still be sold, minus the anti-pirating code.

Knowledge is power! :-P

[Nick @ Sep 28th 2008 6:31PM]

Yeah I read about this earlier today, Walmart isn't the best company in the world. I don't and will never support wal-mart but I will be honest and say that they are starting to become better but just why would they want to stop selling songs? Maybe cause not many people downloaded them because they can download them from some wheres else such as iTunes Store, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, etc.

I'm sure its hard for wa-mart to compete with the composition, if there is one :P and I could be completely wrong.

[Backlin @ Sep 28th 2008 10:16PM]

Yeah, I read that comment earlier today. ;)

[J L @ Sep 28th 2008 6:32PM]

I only have like 5 Walmart songs. The good news is that the first thing I did was strip the DRM. :)

[fischju @ Sep 28th 2008 6:42PM]

It seems that pirates are the ones not getting screwed

[Korey @ Sep 28th 2008 6:42PM]

People buy music?

[iEye @ Sep 28th 2008 8:53PM]

Yes, But only good music.. not the crap from Britney spears and those rappers 50 whatever that call that crap music...

[XIYL @ Sep 29th 2008 3:40AM]

Yay torrents!

[Eldiablo @ Sep 28th 2008 6:56PM]

So basically what WallyMart are saying is 'burn your protected stuff to a CD', that way you can illegally strip the drm from it and re-rip it. Because I can guarantee that the original contract said something along the lines of 'you agree not to circumvent any digital protection from this music' or some such.

Still, fair play to them for seeing sense and offering drm-free mp3s.

[RiggsFanPE @ Sep 28th 2008 6:59PM]

Awesome, the tracks I bought are on my older laptop - with a busted CD drive.

[David Z @ Sep 28th 2008 7:15PM]

You can most likely transfer them to another computer, authorize them to play on that computer and burn them from there. If not, you could write the songs to an ISO file in your CD burning software (even with a broken disk drive), transfer that ISO to another computer and burn it from there without having to worry about authorization, because the DRM was removed when the ISO was made. Hope that helps.

[RiggsFanPE @ Sep 28th 2008 9:15PM]

Thanks David Z.

[jupiterthunder @ Sep 28th 2008 9:47PM]

Feelin' the love on engadget. That is rare.

Nice to see a helpful response instead of the person getting downvoted because they didn't know something. Especially something many would consider to be elementary.

[rento @ Sep 28th 2008 7:05PM]

old

[Ed T @ Sep 28th 2008 7:50PM]

Wow this move by W-M could affect up to 50 people.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 29th 2008 12:31AM]

win

[Chris @ Sep 28th 2008 7:52PM]

You guys are welcome...

[Loonie @ Sep 28th 2008 7:54PM]

To hell with lossy/DRM formats. Give me FLAC , or FLAC off.

[Jeff @ Sep 28th 2008 8:01PM]

Probably really sucks for the 6 people who bought music downloads from Walmart.

[Ted Murphy @ Sep 28th 2008 8:27PM]

The music business is just giving up. Criminal theft is a very difficult beast to tame. The RIAA should just put Giuliani in charge for a couple of years -- their profits would double.

[John bailey @ Sep 29th 2008 12:22AM]

Or alternatively, they are starting to realise that they can sell more DRM free tracks, because the people who buy most downloadable music are the ones who are the ones not stupid enough to buy this DRM protects against pirates nonsense.

[Valicore @ Sep 28th 2008 8:30PM]

How could Walmart not just give a new store credit for the total amount of the songs that were purchased on the old store? It would keep people from getting overly pissed-off and make look less dastardly.

[jupiterthunder @ Sep 28th 2008 9:50PM]

B/c that would not ensure that people purchased the same tracks. Even though it's digital, it is still product. It would be like buying a CD, listening to your hearts content, then taking it back and exchanging it for another CD by a different artist.

[YoYoYo @ Sep 28th 2008 10:37PM]

>It would be like buying a CD, listening to your hearts content, then taking it back and exchanging it for another CD by a different artist.

Seems perfectly reasonable if the store's going to break into your CD rack and steal it out of your home. That said, it'd be a lot more reasonable to just unlock their content.

[roole @ Sep 28th 2008 10:52PM]

The new color-coded, blue/white/grey "I'll let online democracy rule" system has become a pain to read and enjoy, engadget.com. Lose it, or lose your eyeballs.