Wal-Mart Pushes Customers Off DRM Fence

“I’ve come up with an invention that is going to scare the music business,” the stoner sampled at the beginning of Kid Koala’s “Slew Test 2” slurs. “Like, the whole music business is destroyed when this invention hits the street.” My name for that invention is DRM, and it’s insanely efficient at deathbed conversions. Ask […]
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"I've come up with an invention that is going to scare the music business," the stoner sampled at the beginning of Kid Koala's "Slew Test 2" slurs. "Like, the whole music business is destroyed when this invention hits the street."

My name for that invention is DRM, and it's insanely efficient at deathbed conversions. Ask the customers who bought DRM tracks from Wal-Mart: They just got a letter asking them to put life jackets on their laced tunes or lose them forever. They may never go DRM again.

Wal-Mart's legalese spelled it out this way:

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.

Cory @ BoingBoing, who reported the hilarity this morning, has summed up this recent, ridiculous wrinkle of the download conundrum rather nicely:

Boy, the entertainment industry sure makes a good case for ripping them off, huh? Buy your media and risk having it confiscated by a DRM-server shutdown. Take it for free and keep it forever.

this audio or video is no longer availableAs for the mighty Kid Koala, he's a multitasking turntablist who has made a living off the addictive merge of sample-based hip-hop and music technology. "Slew Test 2" is one of a hefty slate of metal-hop tracks you will hear when his new band Slew hits the streets soon.

In other words, if you are going to spend money, please do not spend it at Wal-Mart's music store, or any other whose backwards DRM policies may one day wipe out your money's value by pulling the plug on its servers. Spend it on Koala.