Consistant with an emerging trend that seems to be addressing the recent acknowledgment by the larger online music services, Wal-Mart has begun selling songs online free of digital-rights management, or DRM. DRM was originally inserted into songs as a method to stop online piracy of music, but lead to more problems than benefits as consumers found ways around it, and also experienced the frustration of attempting to play a song with DRM on a non-iPod brand MP3 player, such as the Creative Zen or Microsoft Zune.
Additionally, Wal-Mart will be selling the songs 94 cents a piece, compared the recent price-increase by Apple’s iTunes at $1.29 per track, though the iTune’s songs do come at a higher audio quality.
What are your thoughts on DRM and how does it impact your purchases of online music? Does it mean anything to see a large retailer such as Wal-Mart, which is normally frowned upon in the punk community, selling music not only cheaper but without the restrictions that many were so avidly against? Let us know your thoughts below.
Source Consistant with an emerging trend that seems to be addressing the recent acknowledgment by the larger online music services, Wal-Mart has begun selling songs online free of digital-rights management, or DRM. DRM was originally inserted into songs as a method to stop online piracy of music, but lead to more problems than benefits as consumers found ways around it, and also experienced the frustration of attempting to play a song with DRM on a non-iPod brand MP3 player, such as the Creative Zen or Microsoft Zune.
Additionally, Wal-Mart will be selling the songs 94 cents a piece, compared the recent price-increase by Apple’s iTunes at $1.29 per track, though the iTune’s songs do come at a higher audio quality.
What are your thoughts on DRM and how does it impact your purchases of online music? Does it mean anything to see a large retailer such as Wal-Mart, which is normally frowned upon in the punk community, selling music not only cheaper but without the restrictions that many were so avidly against? Let us know your thoughts below.
Source