As mentioned last week, a lot of online music distributors have begun to switch away from the current DRM-Protected .WMA music download standard. The latest to switch is apparently Walmart.com which has been offering music downloads for a number of years now. According to this article on Ars Technica, Wal-Mart has begun to offer unprotected, 256kbps MP3 files from Universal and EMI record labels that will sell for $.94 a track. This will create some competition with Apple’s iTunes music store which currently only offers unprotected MP3’s from EMI and sells them for over $1.00. While Wal-Mart’s music library will still contain many DRM protected files from other music record labels, they have vowed to continue working to obtain rights to sell more music in MP3 format.
This comes as quite a shock to me, simply because I have always seen Wal-Mart as one of the more restrictive retailers in the U.S. You basically have to look like you’re in your mid 30’s to purchase anything from Wal-Mart that could cause you any form of bodily harm. Though it is necessary to note that any tracks downloaded from Walmart.com’s music store are censored, including the new MP3 files. This may be seen as a negative for some of you looking to hear profanity in every other word of your music.
The Walmart.com music store can be found at the link below.
Share This
