DRM-Free Tunes on Sale at Wal-Mart

Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:43AM EDT

See Comments (214)

The retail giant just began selling digital music free from copy protection today, at just 94 cents per song, versus $1.29/song on iTunes. Let the DRM-free price wars begin!

Reuters is reporting that Wal-Mart's DRM-free music store is selling thousands of songs from labels such as EMI (which signed a DRM-free pact with Apple last April) and Universal Music (which recently announced that it was entering the DRM-free music fray, although not on iTunes). Even better, the copy protection-free tracks will go for just 94 cents a song, compared to the $1.29 premium that Apple is charging for its DRM-free music on iTunes.

Wal-Mart's new DRM-free music store will include tracks by artists such as the Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, and Maroon 5, according to Reuters, and you'll be able to snap up entire albums for $9.22 in addition to the 94 cents/song pricing scheme.

While I'm not exactly a huge Wal-Mart fan, I'd be more than happy to see retail behemoth force Apple to lower its own DRM-free music prices. While Apple and EMI deserve credit for opening the door to legit sales of copy protection-free music, the decision to raise DRM-free prices on iTunes to $1.29/song (compared to the standard 99-cents-a-song price for copy-protected tunes) seems wrong-headed, at best.

Update: In even more DRM-free news, Engadget is reporting that Universal has launched its "test" with Rhapsody, offering a limited selection of DRM-free songs from its catalog for 99 cents a song (or 89 cents/song for Rhapsody subscribers).

Related:
Wal-Mart selling digital music free of copy curbs [Yahoo! News/Reuters]

Comments on DRM-Free Tunes on Sale at Wal-Mart

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  • 66 Posted by d_mann7979 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    i am all in favor of a business war in helps john q customer

  • 67 Posted by der_dude_amerikans on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:41PM EDT Report Abuse

    Walmart is such a piece of garbage, they lower their prices till everyone else loses then they bump them back up.

  • 70 Posted by mrmole420 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    God can people not read? Its 99 cents per song for copy protected music. Meaning you can't copy it or transfer easily. If you want the unprotected songs on ITunes then it's 1.29 per song....

  • 71 Posted by master6332000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    as much as they all want to deny the downfall of priced music programs such as limewire and bitorrent really dont care they will give you the songs for free and even protect them from viruses for you sorry walmart you jumped on the train to late stocks are down intelligence is up the age of scammers is here. (not say that i am one)

  • 72 Posted by turdlez_rock on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    regular songs are .99 cents... iTunes plus songs are $1.29?? Interesting article. This may bring down apple prices, which would be good, but if walmart takes over the world, that would be bad. A bit of healthy competition for Apple would be interesting, though.

  • 74 Posted by mullhar54 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    FYI to the FYI people, DRM-free songs ARE in fact $1.29 a song, it says right on the ITunes front page, http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Songs with DRM (digital rights management I think) are only $.99. So this is correct, what are the odds that someone at Yahoo would be wrong, but "wheezerboy91" would be right? Yah, you're right they're not good.

  • 75 Posted by swb67c10 on Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well all you have to do is buy a song, album, burn it to a cd, erase it from your computer, then copy it back. Protection gone.

  • 76 Posted by lego_icy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    The evil store is at it again. I will never buy anything from Wal-Mart. Ipod, Itunes, and many others are better then anything Wal-Mart could ever sell or do. Wal-Mart is just trying to destroy everything. if you can't afford 1.29 something is wrong with you, plus its .99, not 1.29.

  • 77 Posted by alexxparkk82 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    Man who cares about I-tunes and Walmart Tunes, who da heck is that girl ....

  • 80 Posted by xeurasianboyx on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:53PM EDT Report Abuse

    umm DRM on Itunes IS 1.29 a regular song is 99 cents.

  • 81 Posted by cindy_mullins_2005 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    I would rather just keep getting my free music from the file share programs out there.

  • 82 Posted by jmartypiii on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    aren't the DRM-free songs at $1.29, while the protected songs are still at 99 cents? you pay more for the fact that you're not limited to the use of the songs like you are with the protected songs.

  • 83 Posted by mahir12ab on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    limewire is the best. you don't have to buy from iTunes.

  • 84 Posted by barnumo1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    Does anyone know what the bitrate will be for the Wal-Mart songs? Average Joe listener may not even know what that is, but the DRM-Free songs offered on iTunes are 256kbps, meaning a much higher quality sound versus the standard 128kbps mp3s that most other services offer. My guess is Wal-Mart is offering the lower quality for the price. If that is the case, Apple could turn around in a second and offer the DRM-free songs at a lower quality for .99, however, as a business move, it may believe that people will pay the extra .30 for a much higher quality sound. Then again, I'm reading posts from people who have no idea what DRM is, and others who apparently hate anything Apple, so I may be in the wrong forum for educated, unbiased opinion.

  • 85 Posted by jillpederson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    What do they mean that the playback is limited? I've burned plenty of songs from itunes onto cd to play in my car. Is that what they mean, that you're not supposed to be doing that? If so..........oops.

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