Wal-Mart reverses policy on DRM?
New reports say Wal-Mart may have reversed its policy on digital rights management, and will keep servers online for the near future.
Wal-Mart had sent an e-mail to consumers last month that, starting October 9, it would no longer assist with digital rights management issues for protected files purchased from Walmart.com.
That means that anyone who had those music files would still be able to access them on the devices or computers they reside on, but wouldn't be able to transfer them to new devices.
Yahoo and Microsoft had announced similar plans when shuttering their DRM programs, but both companies backtracked after sharp criticism.
Now, reports say Wal-Mart has told consumers that it, too, will continue to support the DRM-protected music.
Engadget has posted an e-mail that Wal-Mart reportedly sent to music customers informing them that "we have decided to maintain our digital rights management (DRM) servers for the present time," and that their customer service team "will continue to assist with DRM issues for protected windows media audio (WMA) files purchased from Walmart.com."
A spokesman for Wal-Mart could not immediately be reached for comment.
Margaret is news editor for CNET News, based in the Boston bureau. She also oversees the CNET Blog Network. E-mail Margaret.
That is why I won't buy any music that is DRM, that includes iTunes! I'd much rather buy a used CD off of Half.com and rip it myself and know that I will have something to fall back on just in case.
That doesn't mean that we can't apply the old '80s saying - JUST SAY NO!
I *never* have downloaded (let alone purchased) any music with DRM attached and never will. It's a sucker play, just like subscription music.
Yeah, it's a wonderful thing. Now for the entertainment industries to realize they are killing everything and start selling it w/o DRM even more (i.e. only).