How long before Wal-Mart reverses DRM decision?

Wal-Mart's decision to stop supporting the DRM swaddling its music reminds me of this parable: A father and son are herding cows one day. While climbing a narrow mountain road, the herd comes to a place where the path is washed out. In a single file line, each of the cows follows the one ahead of it and plunges to its death.

"Whenever we're herding cows," the father tells the boy, "be sure to remind me that they're just like people."

For some reason, Wal-Mart has decided to stop issuing keys for its digital rights management software. The retailer is doing this though Microsoft and Yahoo already tried to drop DRM support for their shuttered music services this year and retreated in the face of wide criticism. Microsoft agreed to maintain DRM support for three more years and Yahoo issued refunds.

Why does Wal-Mart think it can pull the same stunt and get away with it?

"Wal-Mart will be shutting down our digital rights management system," says a Wal-Mart e-mail to customers published Monday at the blog Boing Boing. "Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected (Windows Media) files purchased from Walmart.com."

I asked Wal-Mart very specific questions about the decision and why they would do it after Microsoft and Yahoo abandoned similar strategies. The company's public relations team didn't address those, however. "We are not removing or disabling the DRM-protected WMA files," a spokesman said, pointing out that Wal-Mart's music will continue to play on whatever PCs or mobile devices they reside on after October 9.

Just don't swap computers, or your hard drive had better not go on the blink. Without DRM keys, music purchased by Wal-Mart customers is stranded and can't be transferred to other devices.

One can only wonder about what led Wal-Mart to such a colossal goof and misguided strategy. Perhaps execs there didn't do their homework. Maybe they didn't hear how Microsoft and Yahoo were bashed by customers, the media, and consumer watchdog groups.

Or maybe Wal-Mart thought nobody would notice. After all, few people have paid much attention to its digital music store since launching in 2004. Could the company have believed it's customers, many of whom are working-class Americans, weren't tech savvy enough to understand what they were losing?

Certainly, Wal-Mart isn't giving customers much time to think about it. The deadline before the company drops DRM support is just two weeks away. To their credit, Yahoo and Microsoft gave their customers much more of a heads up.

Despite all this, I think we should give Wal-Mart the benefit of the doubt. You don't become the biggest retailer ever by ignoring your customers. So Wal-Mart, here's what you should do:

Act in good faith and choose one of the solutions that Microsoft and Yahoo have already helped explore. Staying the course will likely lead you to angry customers, ridicule among digital music fans (aren't you trying to make inroads with this group?), and lawsuits.

Remember, the issue is simple. Your customers had the ability to move their songs to different PCs when they bought them from you. After October 9, that ability disappears, and that's not fair. So go ahead, reverse yourself. Yahoo and Microsoft did. You should too.

[newgun2000]

The reason Walmart thinks it can, is because it can
There the biggest company in the world, They do what ever they want. think about it
They have YOUR MONEY already. Why they still want to give you service. They do think about there consumers and most people that download music ARE not them.

[miqaelee]

.........I heard the yahoo thing and just backed up my music onto a DVD.....no biggie......just back it up....

[sandonet]

Sandoval here, the author of the story. You can back up your music on a CD but if you rerip you lose quality. The point of the story is that you shouldn't get less than what you paid for. Thanks for reading.

[cyberbian]

Surely there is a master key, release it. If you are doing away with DRM, leave it in an unlocked state.

They have a server that releases the DRM. Set up a lousey server that just unlocks any Walmart DRM any time, without the bother of the checks. So no more support issue.

Let it run wild and free for the next ten years on the corporate web server.

Everybody now! Free the key! Free the Key! Free the Key!

[shane--2008]

honestly, release a master key? you write as if they have your interest at heart.

if they did they wouldn't be shutting it down, now would they?

when can we finally accept that DRM is a bad idea?

[streamOG]

Greg,

As much as it pains me to say this publicly, your writing is truly terrible. That "parable" you shared with us all is completely unintelligible, your overly dramatic style doesn't connect with readers and your lack of knowledge about the music and technology industries leave one to wonder how you continue to get published on a public news site.

Walmart, like Yahoo and MSN didn't have customers of their service and have never been a player. Their decision to stop issuing licenses was based on this fact. Consumers of their service left years ago. The way you punish them and present your obvious anti-DRM emotions is unwarranted and irresponsible.

CNET: can't you find someone who knows what they are talking about who has a voice that truly speaks for your audience? Greg is _not_ the guy.

[microg]

But obviously there were some sales. If you are one of the loyal ones getting screwed it seems irrelevant how many customers one has. I did receive an email from them as I have bought a few songs from them in the past and I think one of them was a wma file.

How would you like it if one of your CDs just stopped playing?

[sandonet]

SteamOG (Chris)

I have never defended myself against reader criticism by attacking the critic. In your case I'll make an exception. I have wondered why you constantly attack my stories that have anything at all to do with DRM.

You've commented on my stories in the past so I checked out your previous comments. I found that you have previously identified yourself as Christopher Levy, [e-mail], ttp://thedrmblog.com. I found this on your Web site:
"BUYDRM was created in 2001 to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding pay media industry. Our flagship product KEYOS is offered as both a service and a solution and represents nearly 6 years of research and development in deploying Digital Rights Management technology."

I know you are under pressure. I know DRM is under attack. The music industry is doing away with it. The big movie and TV companies are looking for an alternative. Things are bad and you probably have a lot causing you angst.

And you have every right to dislike my writing and comment about my stories all you want. I'm grateful that you read me. But please, do me and readers the courtesy of at least identifying your conflict in these longer tirades so people can make up their own minds whether your opinion is biased.

Thanks for reading. GS.

[Michichael]

... Sandonet,

Now that's what I call writing. I'm absolutely shocked that somebody in the DRM business is attacking your otherwise excellent articles. My parents bought some music from Walmart a while back and don't know this stuff except through me. Now I can get them to unlock it before the drop-dead date. Thank you.

As for the Pro-DRM Flamer, yes singular because I can't believe anyone else has a stake in that farce of an industry, ignore him. He's obviously got a biased opinion and instead of attacking the issue, attacks the writer.

Bravo.

[dascha1]

Frankly, I don't see why the "head-end" approach is not being talked about a lot these days. I mean, for a legitimate business model, the master control product should always reside in the hands of those who are experts in the field from a historical perspective. There would be nothing wrong with more "open-access" markets in the "middle" of the distribution and certainly even more free enterprise markets at the end of it, that being where the consumer makes the call on a purchase and play transaction. Then you would reduce the chances of a files being beamed inappropriately thus helping to maximize the profit on selling it in the first place. Does it diminish the flashiness of one saying "I have a copy of it", not at all. It actually pushes things back into a service-oriented model, only with decades of improvement, so this time when a service fee is paid we get instant "gratification" without a lot of hassle and delay in the play of the game.

[streamOG]

Greg,

Oh please. My identity is, and never has been a secret. I do have to thank you for the plug however.

Again, your comments show your lack of understanding about our industry. While the music industry is fundamentally broken because Apple will not license their DRM platform FairPlay, the DRM industry at large is expanding and global entertainment players are adopting DRM at a rate that outpaces anything we have seen in the past.

In fact, BuyDRM has had our best year yet and continues to grow and take on larger and larger customers. Last week we won the Streaming Media Magazine Reader's Choice Award for Content Protection/DRM Solutions.

Just the phrase "the big movie and TV companies" alone indicates your thin and general knowledge of who the media industry really is.

While you continue to attack our industry at large I am going to continue to keep an eye on your writings and work to counter the negativity and misunderstanding you bring to the table.

Regards,

streamOG

[Mister Winky]

Oh, streamOG, this is just too funny. You reference an award by industry insiders for industry insiders as some proof that DRM is a good thing. How about asking the consumers who have to live with the garbage of DRM? In this case, a readers survey is really a survey of pro-DRM industry wonks, not downstream users who are burdened with these crackpot schemes.

I'm a huge music consumer (having purchased ~1,500 CDs over 20 years), but the more music moves into proprietary streaming and downloadable formats, the less music I buy. Your DRM product may be successful in its niche, but the over protective, regressive actions of the media industry as a whole are losing the hearts and minds of media consumers.

Aside from Apple's DRM, which is consistently under fire and gradually becoming less used, almost every major implementation of DRM has failed for one reason or another.

-Mister Winky

[dascha1]

Speech technology set aside... Is there anything wrong with the following proposal that defines DRM the way it is (sort of how Sun packaged JMF with their VM):

http://a-m-n.com/public/papers/mbtech.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1869898

thanks - dale

[rdupuy11]

hey StreamOG,

despite what you say, you are coming off like the nutcase, and not the author of this article.

[Raabscuttle]

Greg,

I was kind of lost in the analogy as well; however I was not lost on the consequences of Wal-Marts decision to stop DRM support of their music. But then again, it's Wal-Mart. Their customer base is probably not strong on this product, and as someone already pointed out - they have the cash in hand, so why bother to continue supporting it. They obviously figure that they can survive any fallout that may occur from this decision. Their agreement that their users signed to (by just using the service) more then likely have this tremendous loophole already built in. That famous statement comes to mind: caveat emptor

oh, and Streammy Chris - rdupuy11 said it best, you are coming across like a nutcase.

[audiotruth]

What a boneheaded article.... that is not even REMOTELY what Wal-Mart said in their email. The fact is that WalMart is giving all those DRM customers a time-frame in which to unlock/re-download/etc. their specific DRM locked tunes, and then at some point later this year, everything downloaded will be DRM-free.
CNET is letting more and more of this unfounded unresearched unvetted type article get out to the public before somebody there with 5 or 6 brain cells to rub together checks the facts.

[microg]

Here is the email I received from Walmart concerning this issue...

From: Walmart Music Team <[e-mail]> [Add to Address Book]
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Important Information About Your Walmart.com Digital Music Purchases
Date: Sep 26, 2008 6:23 PM

Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases


We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability
of Walmart's MP3 music downloads. 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.


Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management
issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up
your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to
other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating
system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will
still play on the originally authorized computer.


Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make
our store better than ever and easier to use.

[hawkeyeaz1]

All of these companies are just trying, very successfully, to prove how bad of an idea DRM was from the get go, and how bad "Trusted Computing" is as well. Oh and how costly DRM really is vs the 'benefit'.

[Conspiracy Therorist]

This is why I buy CDs. Never downloaded music and never will.

[stgenerations]

Sometimes, downloading music has to happen if you love a band or artist, because I-Tunes and many other music sites are so good at releasing them with bonus content that is much more affordable then buying the Japanese Import CD with bonus content.

Often times I buy the download (for the bonus content) and the generic 9.99 CD from Amazon. Later if the Japanese Import CD becomes available used, I might pick it up.

[paulej]

Personally, I think this really sucks and I do wish somebody would take Wal-Mart to court over it. From what I can see, I purchased a total of 106 songs from Wal-Mart and their only recommendation to me is to back them up to a CD, which is time consuming and does nothing but help further reduce the audio quality. And what if I want to put them on a portable MP3 player? Waste of more time and further degradation of audio quality.

I don't want to hear one more word from the RIAA on copyright crap and how people are pirating music. I try to act responsibly by buying music and what do they get? I get a "sorry about your luck" letter.

What I want is all of my music delivered to me in MP3 format so that I do not have to waste my time. And, I would gladly lead or join a class action suit just to make the point. There is no expected monetary reward, but these are unacceptable business practices.

[paulej]

Oh, and I would like to add one more comment: at the time that I purchased my music, Wal-Mart actually had in its policies that creating CDs and ripping them back into MP3 format was a violation of the terms and conditions of the sale.

Are they now telling us that we have new terms and conditions? Or are they saying I can only listen to music from the recordable CD?

Absolutely nuts...

[battlefella]

Thanks Greg for the column. The cow story was a bit quaint :) but the point is well made. And poking a stick at the DRM guy's comments made it funny as well.

[Dalkorian]

Walmart thinks they can get away with this because they will get away with this. Anyone stupid enough to support walmart by buying anything there is stupid enough to bend over and enjoy the raping they're about to receive.

[gbelk08]

I foolishly bought 141 songs from walmart back in 2005 since they were only $0.88 each, and I had no idea what DRM meant. Now my hard drive just crashed two weeks ago and i need to hurry up and call them. This is ridiculous! Starting tomorrow, customer service reps will get to hear from me 24/7.

I know WalMart HATES their customers as there's already been an entire documentary about that, but this is just plain stupid. I really just want my songs DRM-free. Just give me some sort of credit to easily download ALL 141 songs DRM-free.