09-27-2008, 08:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Wal*Mart Drops Support For DRM - Honest Users Get To Repurchase Music
"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. But don't worry, this will never ever happen to all those other DRM companies -- unlike little fly-by-night mom-and-pop operations like Wal*Mart, the DRM companies are rock-ribbed veterans of commerce and industry, sure to be here for a thousand years. So go on buying your Audible books, your iTunes DRM songs, your Zune media, your EA games... None of these companies will ever disappear, nor will the third-party DRM suppliers they use. They are as solid and permanent as Commodore, Atari, the Soviet Union, the American credit system and the Roman Empire. "
I don't advocate stealing music from the various services out there - I tend to buy my digital music from Amazon's MP3 service, which has no DRM. However, if I had purchased music that was tied to my PC and I couldn't move it to another PC because the DRM service was shut down, I'd have no problem "stealing" that music again to get what I paid for. Hopefully, if you purchased music like this you can burn it to a CD then re-rip it DRM free. That is what I used to do when I purchased tracks from Naptster and Yahoo before I moved to Amazon. As for Audible books, who buys Audible books with the intent of keeping them and relistening to them? Head over to the article lined to above to see the heart-warming letter from Wal*Mart to their loyal customers.
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09-27-2008, 10:56 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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What a bunch of BS. Compared to MSN Music, Wal-Mart is really giving people a screw-job...at least MSN Music is keeping their DRM servers online for a few more years (even before the public pressure it was two years I think). Wal-mart is pulling the plug on ther servers right away it seems...
DRM'd music sucks in every way possible, but what's worse is how this experience will make the people who purchased the music think twice about purchasing music again...these idiot companies are practically PUSHING people toward P2P networks.
And really, how much can it cost to keep a DRM server or two online for authentication?
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09-28-2008, 12:52 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 212
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That's why I make back up copies of purchased itunes songs. I make audio and mp3 files for the Zune. Being in Canada, we don't have marketplace yet and not sure if I can buy from Amazon.com. Never tried. But we do need some more options to drm free music for Canada.
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09-28-2008, 02:45 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
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Buying music directly from the artists of through small independent labels (such as copperspine - shameless plug for my wife's label) gets you what you paid for; a CD you can rip, or non-DRM protected high quality downloaded files you are free to backup. Buying from MegaCorp (Wal*Mart, iTunes, whoever) is just shooting yourself in the foot financially. Sooner or later they're not going to support your purchase, it's just a matter of time. And of course the cut the artist gets per CD or song sold is trivial compared to the percentage usually got with small labels of direct sales by the bands.
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Gerard Ivan Samija
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09-28-2008, 05:49 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerard
Buying from MegaCorp (Wal*Mart, iTunes, whoever) is just shooting yourself in the foot financially. Sooner or later they're not going to support your purchase, it's just a matter of time.
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I agree, but unfortunately most of the artists that I like listening to are on big labels and those megacorp places are the ones that sell the music I want to buy. Small indy labels are great, but only if you like small indy bands. I have a fair number of indy CDs, but most of the music I buy nowadays are from mainstream media exposure - readio, TV, Internet, etc.
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09-28-2008, 08:01 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
I agree, but unfortunately most of the artists that I like listening to are on big labels and those megacorp places are the ones that sell the music I want to buy. Small indy labels are great, but only if you like small indy bands. I have a fair number of indy CDs, but most of the music I buy nowadays are from mainstream media exposure - readio, TV, Internet, etc.
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For cases such as these the first thought coming to my mind is to advocate for your beliefs on the matter, letting both dollars and words speak your case. Specifically, my suggestion would be that you send a money order for the retail value (whether as seen on Amazon or in a store, whichever you feel is suitable on a case-by-case basis) to the distributor/label wrapped up in a simple letter, outlining your reasons for a) downloading the album named in the letter via a P2P network, and b) (which follows on a)), explaining that since you already have the music, and since they already have your money, there is no need for the CD and packaging. Result:
- Record company might get a small clue from this whack with the clue stick.
- You get a high quality DRM-free copy of the music you want, as popular titles are almost always widely available on the P2P sites.
- The environment suffers to the tune of one CD plus packaging less, including the fuel needed to ship it to your doorstep, whether by courier, mail, or your own trip to the record store.
Everybody wins. The artist gets their $0.90/CD. The record company gets their $15 profit. Oh, but the packaging/distribution firms lose out, so not quite everybody... the $3 - $4 cost per CD kit including promotional expenses, radio station pay-offs, etc., are saved by the record company, so they get to laugh just that much harder on the way to the bank to deposit your money order. And Canada Post gets their $0.70 or whatever it is for a money order fee, so the postal service, long complaining of how couriers and the internets have cut into their bottom line, have one less thing to complain about.
Is this an adequate case made for 'stealing' your music of choice? Basically what I just described is a simple method of forcing the MegaCorps of the world to wake up and join the twenty-first century, to leverage your powers as a consumer in alerting them to your preferences in music distribution. Their old way stinks. The packaging is still available if you want it; just go to a store and buy the thing if you really want to have that stuff. But for most of us, digital is digital, no matter if it's burned for us onto a CD of approximately 10 - 20 year life expectancy or distributed as a torrent file. Either way, honest people have the power to make this change happen, without becoming thieves.
For my part, I buy independently produced stuff for the most part, though there's the odd thing I have on vinyl which is just to poppy to rip with AudioGrabber, so I buy the CDs as I find them, if available in that format. I also get a lot of CDs handed to my by clients and friends, almost all of whom are recording artists, and almost all of those being people who understand a CD as a form of promotional material used in spreading the word about their live performances. My jazz collection is getting quite fat.
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Gerard Ivan Samija
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09-28-2008, 05:51 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serpico
Being in Canada, we don't have marketplace yet and not sure if I can buy from Amazon.com. Never tried.
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You can purchase from Amazon.com if you have a credit card that has a US billing address...that's the only way I know how to make it work.
And, yeah, we really do need a DRM-free online music store in Canada... 
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09-28-2008, 04:47 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
And, yeah, we really do need a DRM-free online music store in Canada... |
One of my fears is that the labels only allow DRM-free music as competition to iTunes. If and when they manage to take down iTunes, I wouldn't be surprised if they let their DRM-free contracts expire with Amazon, Rhapsody, MSN, etc. The labels really couldn't give a damn about what any of us want. 
--janak
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09-28-2008, 08:26 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 202
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I didn't read all of the posts, but since Thoughts has introduced me to Amazon, I haven't been tempted to download an mp3 from a p2p network, not even once.
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Joel Crane
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09-29-2008, 10:20 PM
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Swami
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,396
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Business Is Business
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
One of my fears is that the labels only allow DRM-free music as competition to iTunes. If and when they manage to take down iTunes, I wouldn't be surprised if they let their DRM-free contracts expire with Amazon, Rhapsody, MSN, etc. The labels really couldn't give a damn about what any of us want. |
Why should they? They're a business, and their job is to make as much money as they can.
There are only two reasons to give a damn about customers: - Doing so might actually earn you more business
- You're a "good" business that believes in making a "fair" profit, not charging what the market will bear. This leaves out oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, tobacco companies, Wall Street and companies making goods in third-world countries that exploit workers and sell us lead-painted toys or tainted food.
Steve
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Hybrid Mode
