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

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 1 Posted by somebodys_here on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    This will be very good for consumers everywhere. I'm waiting till iTunes songs are half price. (not gonna happen).

  • 2 Posted by klm_7 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    I wi----- unes had more songs, especially those "one-hit-wonders:" they have the band that did the hit, but not the actual song that made them famous. And yes, iTunes is overpriced, too.

  • 3 Posted by ashander2 on Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    just a FYI... on itunes... songs are only .99/a song. Not $1.29. So, this is not correct.

  • 5 Posted by noonecares435 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    but will the tracks be edited like the music they sell?

  • 6 Posted by tirpider on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    Wow! Now you can buy a re-sampled lower quality version of an album for as much or more than the price of the CD. How.... exciting?

  • 7 Posted by ksdancer1993 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    I sure hope Apple lowers the DRM-free price. That'd be great.

  • 8 Posted by trmaze70 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    maybe itunes will have to drop prices with wally world doing it

  • 9 Posted by nataliexoxo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    now if only we can get the prices of ipods lowered too. i'm planning to purchase an archos 404 from walmart and their insurance plan too to replace my ipod that burned out in 7 months. apple never told me there was an extended insurance plan available and now i'm with out an ipod.

More Posts: First Prev 1 2 3 4 5 … Next Last

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment