Walmart shutting off DRM servers, turning over a new leaf
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 28th 2008 5:38PM
posted Sep 28th 2008 5:38PM
posted Sep 28th 2008 5:38PM
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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.
Agreed, come on record lables, i have my money waiting for some aac drm freeness.
...what?
when did itunes start selling FLAC?
@LAMP
No, AAC is not FLAC. AAC is lossless compression, which is more modern than the 10 year old MP3 format.
Whoops, not lossless, but generally better than MP3.
Just to be clear, DRM has zero impact on the actual quality of a track.
@Ashwin
I think you meant to say that AAC is lossy, not lossless.
...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.
@ Big John
yeah but the DRM-less tracks have a higher bitrate so they are better quality
@JB
AAC plays on all MP3 players sold by Microsoft, Creative, iRiver, or any other brand. Obviously not FairPlay protected tracks.
Interesting how you first thought AAC is lossless and then you didn't even realize that FLAC exists and actually is lossless.
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
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!
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.
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.
@Benson
I love OGG but I hate penguins!!!
Don't group me, bro!
Department of redundancy department here, I'd like to offer you a position as the head president chairman of our organization.
iTunes FTW
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
Jumping through hoops to preserve DRM laden content? This is just one reason why DRM stinks in the first place.
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.
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
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.
Yeah, I read that comment earlier today. ;)
I only have like 5 Walmart songs. The good news is that the first thing I did was strip the DRM. :)
People buy music?
Yes, But only good music.. not the crap from Britney spears and those rappers 50 whatever that call that crap music...
Yay torrents!
It seems that pirates are the ones not getting screwed
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.
Awesome, the tracks I bought are on my older laptop - with a busted CD drive.
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.
Thanks David Z.
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.
old
Wow this move by W-M could affect up to 50 people.
win
You guys are welcome...
To hell with lossy/DRM formats. Give me FLAC , or FLAC off.
Probably really sucks for the 6 people who bought music downloads from Walmart.
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.
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.
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.
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.
>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.
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.