I received several emails today from folks regarding a story that was circulating around concerning Walmart's Digital Music Service and DRM protected music. Since the story was news to me, I decided to reach out to Tom Welch, lead buyer for Walmart Music. The information below is from Tom and I wanted to share it with you all.
DRM-protected music has been a sensitive issue and we recognize how confusing it can be to customers. We sincerely apologize for any confusion or frustration our initial email has caused you, and we hope this post and the below points clarify some confusion and alleviate some frustration.
- To be very clear, we are not removing, deleting or disabling the DRM-protected .wma (windows media audio) files you previously purchased from Walmart. The many ways in which you currently enjoy playing and listening to .wma files you previously purchased from Walmart is not changing. In fact, you will still be able to:
- Also, we will continue to offer MP3 downloads through our online music store. For the past seven months, we have exclusively offered MP3s, and will continue to expand this offering going forward. We believe MP3 music downloads provide a better overall experience and gives you greater usability and flexibility with multiple music devices (including the iPod).
- The key change is that we will no longer be able to provide server support if you encounter an issue with existing licenses on .wma music that you purchased from walmart.com. What that means for you is that if the computer with all of your .WMA music licenses crashes, for example, and you have not burned your music files to an audio CD, you will lose the music. It also means you won’t be able to transfer your music to a new device, whether it be a new computer or a new portable music player. The inability to easily transfer files to multiple devices has always been a limitation of DRM-protected files, and one of the many reasons we worked to push the industry away from them.
For those who have followed these stories, transitions away from DRM-protected music have been difficult and other digital music providers have had similar issues as they’ve announced plans to move away from DRM-protected music and/or discontinue their service. Walmart.com continues to be committed to offering the best values on digital music in the format that you – our customers – have asked for, MP3. We are proud of our current ability to offer high-quality, DRM-free, MP3s from all major music distributors at great prices to our customers. We believe the MP3 format provides you with superior quality, usability and flexibility, and we look forward to bringing you the best values in MP3s through our online music store.
Again, on behalf of the Walmart Music Team, we’re sorry for any confusion we may have caused.
There you have it; straight from the Tom himself. I hope that helps clear things up.
RH