This is it. I can already hear the strains of our readership's Crystal Castles ringtones as our Toby Keith-listening step-daddies and Josh Groban-adoring mommas frantically call our new-fangled smart phones about this DRM (pronounced "derm," right mom?) Download changeover thing that their neighborhood Wal-Mart store just sent them an email about. I might as well get you up to speed now, so you can calm the old folks down and get them off the phone before they invite you and your girlfriend to another dreadful dinner at Outback Steakhouse.
So, basically Walmart.com's music download store went DRM free in February of 2008, and surprise, surprise, now they're telling customers that they can no longer support the DRM-laden downloads that they eagerly sold them prior to the inevitable transition. This is, of course, no surprise to us young folk. You may recall that iTunes offered a paid upgrade to MP3s after it made the DRM-free transition and still supports the tracks it sold with DRM. And other download services like Napster and Rhapsody were forced to extend their transitions after complaints from consumers. Wal-Mart's changeover is, if anything, a little overdue.
But still, consider the email that got sent to Wal-Mart's customers, which states that on October 9, the company will shut its servers "that support protected songs and albums purchased from our site." Unless you back up your files by burning them to CD, you will "no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash." Okay. Now, think about how your mom uses the term CD and DVD interchangeably all the time. See? This is gonna be a mess. Below is the full text of Wal-Mart's email. After you read it, you should probably look at your Google Calendar and free up a Saturday sometime soon, cuz you've got some DRM songs to burn and some grade-C steak to choke down. Oh, and don't pick up a 10 pack of CD-Rs... from Wal-Mart.
Full text of Walmart.com's email:
We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability of Walmart's MP3 music downloads. We began offering MP3s in August 2007 and have offered only DRM (digital rights management) -free MP3s since February 2008. As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site.If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.
Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.
Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use.
