# Anyone got Wal-Mart DRM WMA music files? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-got-wal-mart-drm-wma-music-files/465969 "2008-10-01T05:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-got-wal-mart-drm-wma-music-files/465969/1 "2008-10-01T05:09:45Z")
If you purchased DRM-protected WMA files from Wal-Mart before February of this year, you should burn them to CD sometime very soon. On October 9, the company is shutting down its DRM server, meaning that after that date you won’t be able to transfer those songs to any other medium, nor will you be able to put them on a new computer or recover them in the event of a crash or an OS re-installation. You’ll still be able to play them on the main, authorized computer as long as it’s still running. [Boing Boing story](http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/26/walmart-shutting-dow.html) [Washington Post blog](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/09/wal-mart_latest_music_store_to.html) [Wal-Mart’s own CheckOut blog](http://checkoutblog.com/entries/2008/9/29/clarifying_walmart_drm_music.aspx) So, the world’s largest public corporation can’t maintain one crappy DRM server so that its customers can continue to enjoy the music they purchased from the company. And they give their customers less than two weeks’ notice of this change in policy. That’s pretty fucked up. Shit like this is the key reason why i never bought a single DRM-laden song from any company, because it leaves them with the ability to simply turn off your access to the product you purchased. As one of the links above notes: > [@](#): > > But don’t worry, this will never ever happen to all those other DRM companies – unlike little fly-by-night mom-and-pop operations like Wal\*Mart, the DRM companies are rock-ribbed veterans of commerce and industry, sure to be here for a thousand years. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-got-wal-mart-drm-wma-music-files/465969/2 "2008-10-01T06:25:01Z")
I made the choice a few years ago to just go ahead and download whatever music I wanted to hear. I support the artists I like more directly than by sending money to the record companies. It’s too bad. There’s so much great music out there, and I really do have way too many black t-shirts as it is… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-got-wal-mart-drm-wma-music-files/465969/3 "2008-10-01T11:50:49Z")
DRM music always gets messed up for me at some point, so I always burn the new songs to at least one cd. I’ve learned to never trust that even the largest place will be around next week, so remember that for DRM music and software. I don’t have Walmart music, but this is the type of thing I think people should have a heads up on. Your going to the top. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-got-wal-mart-drm-wma-music-files/465969/4 "2008-10-01T12:26:29Z")
I used to by DRM’d music from iTunes back when that was the only option, but fortunately these days we have options. Some of iTunes’ library is DRM free now (iTunes Plus), but nowhere near all of it. Fortunately [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)’s MP3 store is 100% DRM free, so I buy from them nine times out of ten now. Their downloader even tosses the songs right into iTunes for me. 🙂