Submitted by jrenaut on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 12:46pm.
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BoingBoing | WalMart now says they'll keep the DRM servers on forever
I wrote about this when WalMart first announced that they were revoking your ability to play the music you "bought" from them, but it looks like they've changed their mind, just like Yahoo. Well, not quite like Yahoo, but the same idea. They're going to leave their DRM servers on for some undisclosed additional time.
BoingBoing seems to think they'll leave them up permanently, but the press release doesn't actually say that. Regardless, WalMart is paying real money for their mistake, and it's always nice to see that. Except in this economy where we need WalMart to keep the entire country from going bankrupt. Then it kind of sucks.
This whole DRM thing is very
This whole DRM thing is very messed up... I agree... But Walmart is kinda, sorta doing the right thing here. I'm glad you are giving them a little bit of credit. Believe me, they didn't have to do this.
Oh, but keep in mind 2,000 people got fired instead.
You're right, I do give them
You're right, I do give them some credit. They got into a bad situation (selling DRMed music), probably because the RIAA told them they had to. When they realized how bad the situation was (Eternally maintaining a server to accuse their customers of being criminals), they made a bad decision to shut off the server. When there was a backlash, they decided to, as far as I can tell, push the problem off to a later date.
I don't expect WalMart to be the leader in the new music industry that's based on selling scarce goods while giving the music away for free. I do expect them to have a bit better sense of the economics of what they were doing - selling a good that is less valuable (DRMed music is less valuable than non-DRMed) while locking themselves into the cost of the server.
I'd be okay with this whole deal if they just made it absolutely clear at every point in the "purchase" process that you aren't buying music, you're licensing it, and your license can be revoked at any time and for any reason.
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