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, 05:18 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 194
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I have read the original article twice trying to understand the content, and I believe that, with all my despise to DRM music, this is a way they are trying to justify why they steal music by trying to turn something good to something bad. Here are my reasons:
1. Walmart explains that the reason for turning off their DRM music comes from the fact that since February they have been selling non-DRM and this is what will be from now on.
2. They explain that at the moment you have recorded the files to a CD, you are free to listen it everywhere.
3. They have sent the email to all their registered users. I quite believe that if you are registered to a service you use and you change emails, you are the only one to blame if your email address is not updated there and you don't receive notices. You could, as I do, use one special Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account only for registering on these services.
In conclusion, don't try to use these things to justify yourself for stealing music. As Ed says, it would be valid only if they don't offer you a solution.
Would you steal from your local supermarket only because it sells things more expensive than others? Or even because they refused to give you money back for bad fruit that you have only remembered to return one month after you bought it?
Thieves are thieves and they will stay thieves everywhere, all time, and for all reasons. There is no way to justify it.
Only my 2 cents
Helio
Last edited by heliod; 09-28-2008 at 05:21 AM..
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09-28-2008, 05:46 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by heliod
2. They explain that at the moment you have recorded the files to a CD, you are free to listen it everywhere.
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Helio, my friend, I have to disagree. Burning files to a CD then re-ripping them results in an audio file that is inferior to the one that was burned in the first place. It's also a waste of a CD. What Wal-Mart should have done was offer people their music in DRM-free MP3 format - because they're shutting down their DRM server, they know all that music out there is going to stop working eventually, so by offering it in MP3 format they'd be giving customers what they thought they were buying in the first place: music that they can listen to for the rest of their lives (assuming they don't lose the files), just like what you get when you purchase a CD. But Wal-Mart didn't do that, they instead decided to screw their customers. So very typical. I can't blame anyone for seeking out DRM-free versions of their tracks on P2P networks - Wal-Mart isn't giving people a reasonable option.
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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, 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, 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, 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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