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Walmart To Close Online Music Store

Posted by samzenpus on from the survival-of-the-most-convenient dept.

UnknowingFool writes "Beginning August 28, 2011 Walmart will close its online downloadable music store. After eight years, Walmart will no longer offer music for download but will still sell physical music formats. Walmart will keep their DRM servers online for customers that purchased their music with DRM. Despite having cheaper music, the store's market is tiny compared to No. 1 and 2, Apple and Amazon respectively."

92 comments

  1. Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, a lot of people will never know that Wal-mart sells stuff online.

    1. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Xacid · · Score: 1

      Well I knew they sell "stuff", but really had no idea about the music portion.

      Then again "DRM" is enough for me to gloss over such a "service".

    2. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't buy food from them either. Don't let them drive all the other grocery stores in town out of business, the way they did all the department stores and mom-and-pops. Don't encourage them.

    3. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you trying to claim that the people of walmart can't use the Internets?

    4. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Mashiki · · Score: 1, Troll

      Oh look. An anti-capitalist.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    5. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Amen to that. I wouldn't buy music from Wal-Mart on general principle even if I didn't think they were actually evil because the music in the store is all the bleeped version and I think that is stupid.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Captain+Hook · · Score: 1

      How is someone trying to protect one type of store (small local grocers etc) over a different type of store (multinational) anti-capitalist?

      --
      These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
    7. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 1

      Sure, because they provide more jobs and value to the community than all the stores they drove out of business. To say nothing of the manufacturing jobs sent overseas to satisfy their iron-fisted demands for lower prices.

    8. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the community at large prefers to shop at Wal-Mart over the smaller stores, then by definition it IS providing more value to them.

    9. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by jhoegl · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If by Anti-capitalist you mean someone who supports small businesses over the larger, who supports a company with creativity instead of stealing ideas of small businesses, who treats their employees fairly instead of paying men more and women less, who supports competition to better the community, and who does not like the idea that jobs were forced overseas by Walmart to reduce the cost of products sold there causing "slave labor" camps in those respective countries, then yes.... I think that is what he means.

      Oh, and I dont shop at Walmart either.

    10. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not necessarily.. a lot of the foodstuffs walmart sells are old stock, and sometimes even past date.. they also only sell the very cheapest produce which is nowhere near the quality one can get elsewhere. supporting walmart here just reduces Quality of life for the society.. they do NOT provide the best value.. they only appear to when one doesn't look at the full picture.

    11. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      So the "invisible hand" is required by capitalism, but any actions that are that "invisible hand" are anti-capitalist? How does that work? He's placing a value on a store being in business. Sadly, the cheapest way to get what he wants is likely "anti-capitalistic" charity, to buy from the cheapest place, then donate the savings to the preferred store. The free market does not, and never has, existed in the US, and Americans do not want the Free Market and given the choice of a regulated capitalism or "free market" Americans *never* choose the "free market" (not that anyone ever has chosen the free market, and the corporations spend millions every year violating the "rules" of a free market, so if we had one, the participants would break it within hours of its creation). Free market capitalism has never worked even once in the history of the planet. Perhaps the impossibility is why Loonitarians everywhere love it so much. You can't prove them wrong when it's never been tried before (or failed so fast that it could be argued it wasn't given a fair chance, always ignoring the fact that it never worked and failed almost instantly).

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    12. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      I can get all that from Apple, or Nike.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    13. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ah yes "teh marketz will solve everything!". I hope YOUR job gets shipped overseas. I'm sure YOU wouldn't expect anyone in government to care. Maybe if you became more efficient and worked for less money...

    14. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No, that's not what he said. The point is that if I don't want to shop at your expensive mom and pop store, why should I have to? Because you say I must? Despite what most people will try to claim, a lot of mom and pop shops were crap. Just because something is a small, local store does not mean it's worth a damn.

    15. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Trahloc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Most people, historically at least, on slashdot work in the IT industry. Market instability and absolutely no loyalty from our employers is what we *expect*. Our grandfathers, possibly fathers, are the last generation that believed the places they started working at when they were 18 would be the places they would retire from. I prefer this, perhaps when I have a family and kids and need stability I'll change my mind but my rational mind has no issue with it. If me being unemployed means that the government doesn't put its fingers deeper into my life its worth it.

      --
      The Goal: A long simple life filled with many complex toys.
    16. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      And, no, I do not shop at Wal-Mart before that claim comes up. Buying something cheap but it being crap is just as bad as buying something expensive that is crap.

    17. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by arbulus · · Score: 1

      The problem is that Walmart sells a large number of its merchandise at a loss. Their prices are artificially low, which makes other stores seem "expensive" by comparison. Small shops who actually depend on their profit margins to make a living simply cannot compete with them. Mom and Pop can't sell anything at a loss or they'd go out of business. Walmart makes it up because they're gigantic. So they run every other store in town out of business because no one can compete with them, and they buy all of their inventory from overseas manufacturers. They destroy jobs and towns from every angle.

    18. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes "teh marketz will solve everything!"

      Strawman arguments are lies.

    19. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Broken windows!

      And what do you think "super" markets did to the local grocer?

      In large cities super markets are subsidized to accelerate the process (still).

      I don't shop at wall mart because it doesn't cater to how I shop, but they are a godsend in rural areas saving hours of time and many dollars.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    20. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He opposes the free market.

    21. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by eharvill · · Score: 1

      I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but it's hard to get better produce than the "local" farmers. Not sure how extensive this is, but I do like the thought - Walmart

      --
      At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me
    22. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      No, when I say they are expensive I'm not doing a comparison to a Wal-Mart. I've gone into numerous local stores that are selling things (DVDs, books, music, electronic equipment) at 25-30% over MSRP that one can easily look up. I've also been in many that have shitty customer service. And like I pointed out, below the post I don't shop at Wal-Mart nor do I support what they do especially when it comes to urban sprawl. I'm just not buying into this romantic nostalgia over mom and pop stores when numerous ones I've gone into have been crap and overpriced.

    23. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Aqualung812 · · Score: 2

      I'm a firm anti-Walmart person, I and totally agree with not just buying stuff local because it is local.

      There are a lot of mom & pops that are complete assholes & act like you MUST shop with them anyhow, while they buy their raw materials from Walmart. A local ice-cream shop complained to me about people not shopping local & admitted to me that she buys her stuff from Walmart. Now, I go to the chain Cold Stone.

      On the other hand, the local bike shop waited for me to get to his shop 45 minutes after he closed so I could get my bike. Now, I pay higher prices for things like cycling clothes buying them from him instead of some online place. I think of it as a "tip" for such good service.

      --
      Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
    24. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by lgarner · · Score: 1

      In other words, you give your money to those who give you value. Funny how radical that idea seems here.

    25. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by CrazyDuke · · Score: 1

      An economic player choosing whom to and not to do business with of their own free will and voicing the reasoning (or at least rationalizations) behind that choice is anti-capitalist?

      Someone needs to let Congress know that K-street is full of watermelons. *cough*

      "You are free to do as you are told," eh?

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
    26. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Oh look. An anti-capitalist.

      You're saying that is if it were a bad thing?

    27. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the US is probably the only country dumb enough to practice "free trade". The US plays by the rules that the multi-national corporate lobbyists direct the bought and paid for Congress to do. Even "socialist" Germany produces more exports that the US does. The exports that Germany produces are typically finished goods and not "third world style" raw materials, chickens or cotton like the US. In addition, Germany's politicians are not "owned" by the lobbyists and are typically not as short sighted to damn the future for the next ROE on the present quarter. Germany typically places more emphasis on "bank loans" as a good thing and not squeezed and cooked up profits like Americans do. Lets not forget about the VAT that most EU states have to tax imports and the US is ostracized with the mere mention of a tariff. Corporate greed is the philosophy that most large businesses deploy as their strategic plan and politicians are quick to oblige.

      China is another country that does not practice free trade. They manipulate their currency and deny imports into the country for items other than raw materials. They steal intellectual property, lack environmental laws and they also are lacking in safe working conditions and use forced labor.

      Take a look at any number of so called free trade treaty's and see how well they have worked for America. The GOP lobbied Clinton to sign onto NAFTA,GATT, WTO and numerous other "free trade" philosophies. The result after 20 years: just under 6 million manufacturing jobs lost and over 51,000 factories closed. Yah, go free trade!

    28. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3

      Exercising one's choice to not deal with a particular vendor is the very quintessence of free market.

    29. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by bjwest · · Score: 1

      I would dearly love to not buy food in my local Walmart. Unfortunately, my only other choices are a Brookshires and a Save-U-More. Neither of which has the produce selection of Walmart. Both have better meat selections, and I get most of my meat from either of them. Brookshires has just about everything else I need, so I get it there. Walmart has the produce selection, and it's fresher then Brookshires, so I get my produce at Walmart. Save-U-More? Well, they're within walking distance, so I get my milk and occasionally some meat and other groceries there - whatever I need between my biweekly trip to Brookshires and/or Walmart.

      TLDR: Nope, sorry, Walmart has long ago driven the other stores in this small (~12,000 person) town away. I'm not driving 35 miles to not shop in Walmart.

      --

      --- Keep the choice with the user..
    30. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, the local bike shop waited for me to get to his shop 45 minutes after he closed so I could get my bike. Now, I pay higher prices for things like cycling clothes buying them from him instead of some online place. I think of it as a "tip" for such good service.

      Indeed. Quality service is sometimes worth paying that extra money for. Also, sometimes its money better spent to buy a quality product than cheap out and buy the cheaper one.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    31. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by lucm · · Score: 1

      What you propose is to boycott an american company because it drives other american companies out of business with their low prices. Obviously if the prices are so low, it's because [insert something evil here] not because they have created the most efficient distribution network and inventory system in America. (if by something evil you were thinking "getting their low-price stuff in china" then what about your iPad?)

      Following your logic, we should boycott Ford because they hurt GM, and Apple because they hurt Dell, and McDonalds because they hurt Burger King.

      Seriously, the only reason not to go to Wal-mart is because of the fat ladies in leggings that smell like seaweed and the occasional crossdresser trying out shoes, but I see no problem with purchasing their stuff online, unless their website gets hijacked and redirects people to goatse or rick.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    32. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Those people who used to work stocking the shelves of a bunch of grocery stores or manufacturing widgets in a factory are now free to educate themselves and get a better job.

      Thats what happens. We outsource jobs that are shitty and move on to new jobs which are worth more money and almost always easier than the previous shitty job.

      The people that say this (and at times, I'm one of them, I love LOCAL hobby shops rather than mail order, I'm an impulse shopper), that they want to keep a bunch of local stores are being selfish. Its far more efficient to have one walmart than a one or more localized store with no large bargining power. If we were good people, we'd think of global efficiency, not selfish self preservation. Personally, I go the selfish route as efficiency is useless if I'm not able to enjoy it ;)

      And stop your bitching about overseas manufacturing, without it you couldn't afford half the comforts you enjoy on a daily basis. You can pretend to be all high and mighty about it, but the fact that you're on the Internet shows you're a hypocrite. You couldn't afford a computer produced entirely in the US, and they do exist.

      I'm a developer, my job HAS been shipped off shore ... well, its been tried ... and then companies learn real quickly how stupid that is and go back to american workers. I'm not afraid of my job being offshored, I'm better at it than want they can by for $2.75/month in India, and worth it.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    33. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      What? I don't know where you live, but here in the US, Wal-mart does not drive mom and pop department stores out of business. Heck, I have only seen one or two mom and pop department stores in my entire life. You are 50 years too late to start complaining about mom and pop department stores being driven out of business. That act sits at the feet of Sear, Macy's, Gimbles, KMart. It is the other national department stores that Wal-Mart is beating down. The same goes for mom and pop grocery stores. The national grocery store chains have long ago decimated the local grocery stores. Again, it is the nation chains that Wal-Mart is competing against. Safeway, Costco, etc...

    34. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by sexconker · · Score: 0

      Exercising one's choice to not deal with a particular vendor is the very quintessence of free market.

      And encouraging others to follow in your footsteps because of nebulous, vague, unsubstantiated (and even unstated), claims is what?
      It's FUD.

    35. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by aix+tom · · Score: 1

      >And encouraging others to follow in your footsteps because of nebulous, vague, unsubstantiated (and even unstated), claims is what?
      Advertising.

    36. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by sourcerror · · Score: 1

      " Lets not forget about the VAT that most EU states have to tax imports and the US is ostracized with the mere mention of a tariff."

      I think you're mischaracterising VAT. It's not an import tariff, as it's put on intrernal produced products as well. It doesn't provide internal producers any market advantage.
      On the other hand if I order something from an online shop I will have to pay VAT as well.

    37. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by registrationssucks · · Score: 0

      Don't buy food from them either. Don't let them drive all the other grocery stores in town out of business, the way they did all the department stores and mom-and-pops. Don't encourage them.

      Their competition is hardly "mom-and-pops". Besides, why should I patronize their (other grocery stores) coupon games with their fine print BS? Wal*Mart offers lower pricing, no coupon BS needed, NO CLUB CARD, and they are closer than many other choices. Am I to drive further and pay more just so mega-corp Target can get my money? Or you want me to drive even further and pay even more so the boutique "mom and pop"-looking store gets the profits. Why?

    38. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by registrationssucks · · Score: 0

      Ah yes "teh marketz will solve everything!". I hope YOUR job gets shipped overseas. I'm sure YOU wouldn't expect anyone in government to care. Maybe if you became more efficient and worked for less money...

      I can almost guarantee you would work for 1970 minimum wage if it was paid in Gold equivalents. You are focused on the price on a check not on what it can buy, not on the few-to-several percents stolen every year by the government and its bankers. At the time $1.60/hr would be (let's assume) $10 after taxes and 8 hours on the low-paying job. $10 would buy - at the time - 1/4 oz of gold which is ~$450 today.

      Somebody brainwashed you to hate on Wal*Mart so you would ignore them. This is why so many people in the middle-east are anti-Semitic.

    39. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      And encouraging others to follow in your footsteps because of nebulous, vague, unsubstantiated (and even unstated), claims is what?

      Politics?

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    40. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They ARE the grocery store in my town (Not the super Wal-Mart, just a Wal-Mart Grocery). Should I not shop there any more? Should I go to the other grocery store that is close and pay 40-60% more on average and have much less choice? Or should I drive even further than that so I can find a mom-and-pop to charge me even more?
      You can say what you want, but the reason people shop there is because they save money. One example, 2 liter bottle of soda - Wal-Mart: $0.88 - other store: $1.89
      You do the math.

    41. Re:Wait, Wal-mart sells stuff online? by colinnwn · · Score: 1

      My girlfriend grew up in a small town, and was/is really excited when Wal-Mart opened there years ago.

      She pointed out that the mom-and-pop stores that got ran out of business generally had limited selection, bad pricing, poor return policies, and only provided employment to their immediate family and good friends. For the rest of the community, Wal-Mart really improved their quality of life, of course at the expense of the local merchants who were doing a less than impressive job.

  2. In before... by Haedrian · · Score: 2

    In before "Its the pirates' fault"

    1. Re:In before... by guruevi · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It's the media's fault. Both Amazon and Apple have succeeded due to a relatively DRM free environment. I remember some people trying the WalMart site and complaining that they couldn't play it on their particular device because it wasn't blessed by Microsoft. Then they shut down their DRM servers effectively corrupting every customers library, after that they never recovered

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:In before... by Winchestershire · · Score: 1

      Indeed, right after Walmart began this program, I decided to give it a try. Little did I know that the music wouldn't work on my mp3 player at the time and you couldn't transfer the music from one computer to another (I wanted to play my music on my laptop as well as my desktop). After this, their music service was dead to me and I never looked back. Luckily I only lost about $5 on the test, so I wasn't put too far in the hole over it (basically about the cost of a meal at some fast food place). I am curious though if this was to prioritize their new video on demand streaming service they recently rolled out with.

    3. Re:In before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WalMart has sold DRM-free music for some time

  3. "Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For how long?

    1. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      10 years, 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 15 hours, 12 minutes and 30.902389348934 seconds.

    2. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by gilesjuk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who knows. But really they should be forced to unlock all the music from DRM.

    3. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Given that keeping the servers running costs money and that they'll have no revenue from new sales, it won't be long at all.

      Dear everyone, this is why DRM is bad: Through no fault of your own, you'll lose access to all of your purchased content and there's nothing to can legally do about it. Sucks to be you.

    4. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FTC sez a long time... yeah big government

    5. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by derfy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      http://xkcd.com/488/

      Didn't see it linked yet.

    6. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      please, please, anybody who bought any music at Walmart: When the the servers do go gown, do NOT join a class action lawsuit. Instead each and everyone should sue Walmart individually. Represent yourself. Yes, wou may lose, so what ? With the class action best you will get is a pittance anyway. Sueing them yourself will at least be much more costly for them. Much more satisfying.

    7. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that a court can decide to forcibly turn a bunch of individual lawsuits into a class action. Otherwise people would be able to legally DDoS anyone, from big companies down to individual people.

    8. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      It is also more costly for each individual.

      Most people I know can't afford to sue Walmart

    9. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that all music on iTunes is DRM free due to Apple's leverage in the music industry. Perhaps they should update the comic?

    10. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by lgarner · · Score: 1

      And more costly for the individual. No thanks.

    11. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's called small claims court. In my state, damages up to $6000 are eligible -- if you have more music than that, you can probably afford a "real" trial with a lawyer.

      But in practice, I can't imagine most people suing over DRMed music at all, instead of simply breaking the DRM or downloading DRM-free versions of the tracks you bought. No, it's not legal (DMCA circumvention and copyright violation, respectively), but so much less hassle; the "proper" course could only be motivated by a degree of faith in the rule of law that seems entirely unsupported by the actual bullshit that passes for both legislative and judicial processes in this once-great land.

    12. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dear everyone, this is why DRM is bad: Through no fault of your own, you'll lose access to all of your purchased content and there's nothing to can legally do about it. Sucks to be you.

      Of course that would never happen to my Steam games. After all, Valve is a big company unlike Walm... wait a moment!

    13. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by Cimexus · · Score: 1

      iTunes music only had DRM for the first year or two. It's been DRM-free for a long time now (for music, at least). And in most cases it'll allow you to upgrade old DRMed files to the newer iTunes Plus ones for a small fee.

      I buy quite a bit of iTunes music and did a quick scan of my library. Only one old album I have appears to be still DRMed (for some reason ... I suspect because the publisher of that particular album didn't agree to the unDRMing and no longer sells on iTunes).

    14. Re:"Walmart will keep its DRM servers online" by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

      "Walmart will keep its DRM servers online"

      For how long?

      Until someone in the break room unplugs it to use the microwave.

  4. Wal-Mart sells music online? by geekoid · · Score: 2

    the more you know. Not that I would ever use their service.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Frank on Walmart keeping its DRM servers online by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That...is when the universe...will end.

  6. Damn you big business! by hamburgler007 · · Score: 1

    There is just no room for the little guy anymore.

    1. Re:Damn you big business! by Asic+Eng · · Score: 1

      There is: UbuntuOne has a music store, too. No DRM.

    2. Re:Damn you big business! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      UbuntuOne has a music store, too.

      So does the Pirate Bay!

  7. Will they ever learn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully the ignorant public who bought those hobbled files will learn a valuable lesson about the evils of DRM when the server is eventually shut down.

    Customers should not have to worry how much longer a business will operate a DRM server after the profit motive has disappeared.

    If they begin to worry because of Wal-Mart's announcement then hopefully they won't buy anything with DRM, ever, for any reason.

    1. Re:Will they ever learn? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      Why? This isn't the first time a music store with DRM has gone out of business. Nor is Wal-Mart's online music store very large or popular. So this will most likely lead to no one realizing anything since almost no one was buying from them anyway otherwise they would still be in business.

    2. Re:Will they ever learn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, after RTFA, WalMart did switch to DRM free in late 2007.

    3. Re:Will they ever learn? by camperslo · · Score: 0

      Maybe it was their use of poor oppressed Chinese children, forced to work long hours singing sound-alike versions of so many songs. And those poor people exposed to toxins will removing recyclable bits from old hard drives just to make bandwidth cheaper. And maybe the players getting poor battery life were a problem too. If you stick various 9 volt batteries on your tongue, it's easy to taste the ones with recycled or stale electrons.

    4. Re:Will they ever learn? by scdeimos · · Score: 1

      To be fair, after RTFA, WalMart did switch to DRM free in late 2007, but never removed the DRM on previous sales.

      FTFY

    5. Re:Will they ever learn? by firex726 · · Score: 1

      Yea I think there was some smaller but still popular store that went out of business a few years back and had this happen.

      Before that it was always a "What if" but then it became a reality, but seems no one learned their lesson.

  8. And... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 1

    ...nothing of value was lost.

  9. Yet Video Streaming Just Started by dcollins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So anyone who jumps aboard their video streaming service announced 2 weeks ago can get a glimpse of their future right now, eh?

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    1. Re:Yet Video Streaming Just Started by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention their book store!

    2. Re:Yet Video Streaming Just Started by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      So anyone who jumps aboard their video streaming service announced 2 weeks ago can get a glimpse of their future right now, eh?

      It's just Vudu.

      In fact, VuDu just announced that to get around the App Store payment processor, they launched a web app - so they're streaming movies using HTTP Live Streaming.

      Now I just need an HTTP Live Streaming downloader...

      Likewise, Amazon has a web-based E-reader. Someone's probably going to write a simple tool to dump DRM-free ebooks that way.

      Perhaps Apple's HTML5 over Flash and App Store stances could inadvertently lead to a DRM-free world.

  10. This may not do it...but a little longer... by tekiegreg · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Think Apple, they wont stay #1 forever no matter what anyone says, my predictions... By 2015: Apple loses Iphone dominance in all respects and begins its downward slide, starts to focus on other products instead, some customers grow worried By 2020: Apple decides the Itunes store is no longer worth keeping up, stops all sales but keeps DRM servers functional, most customers grow worried... By 2023: Apple sees no further point in keeping Itunes DRM Store up, but enthusiasts of now classical music singers such as Taylor Swift, Spice Girls and Eminem begin rioting over the loss of all that music...oooooh the humanity...

    --
    ...in bed
    1. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Why would they need to keep DRM servers for music that they sell with no DRM? Or are you one of those idiots who missed the memo and didn't realize that iTunes music has been DRM-free for nearly 2 years now?

    2. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Actually iTunes offered DRM free music before Amazon starting May 2007 with EMI tracks. It wasn't until 2009 before all the major studios agreed.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    3. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps he's one of those idiots who didn't rebuy their music when Apple offered people to pay to upgrade to DRM-free. Sure he'll be fine as long as he can keep around a computer that is authorized & hopefully he has done the burn & rip option to preserve the music, but that doesn't mean that Apple might not still be in that boat (remember that IE6 & XP are still around - 10 years after release).

    4. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I've learned anything over the years I've learned that putting any amount of weight behind a Slashtard's prediction on future markets is a foolish mistake. After all, it was you same fucks that were claiming that by 2001 Microsoft was going to have gone the way of the dinosaur, Linux would be on most desktops soon after and the iPod would fail. You fuckers don't know shit.

    5. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      No, he would be an idiot for not finding the many free programs that will strip out the DRM.

    6. Re:This may not do it...but a little longer... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      I understand, but I was using the latter date to stave off the person that would have come along with the grand comeback of "NUH UH THEY WERE STILL SELLING TEH DRM MUSAK IN 2007 and 2008!!".

  11. JUST ANOTHER REASON WHY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will not buy music that is DRM. Oh you bought over 1000$ in music with DRM? Great, now you can't use it anymore.

  12. good luck with that..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Walmart will keep their DRM servers online for customers that purchased their music with DRM

    haven't been able to use/play/burn/anything any of the old wma tracks we purchased from walmart before they switched to mp3s in over a year (even on previously 'authorized' systems with no hardware changes that would affect licensing). their service sucks, they won't do a dang thing to fix it nor will they refund our money.

  13. Walmart had a music store? by Turmoyl · · Score: 2

    I never even knew they had a music store, and would have boycotted it just the same as we have their big box stores if I had.

    Still, its ironic that the first time I hear about it is when it's closing.

  14. It ain't easy by HW_Hack · · Score: 1

    Another example that starting AND maintaining a music / media service is not a simple task. First you have to deal with the nuts in Hollywood on DRM and music catalogs etc. --- Then you have to have a coherent vision for your service and superb software --- Oh, and it would be good if you had either a cool device for consumers ... or a seamless way for consumers to get their media to any number of other devices. Lastly you have to have staying power to go on and on and on and on

    Love it - hate it - or just use it ---- iTunes has been there for 10yrs (an eon in tech time) ..... surrender, it just works .....

    --
    Its not the years, its the mileage .....
    1. Re:It ain't easy by glodime · · Score: 1

      Love it - hate it - or just use it ---- iTunes has been there for 10yrs (an eon in tech time) ..... surrender, it just works .....

      You misspelled BitTorrent.

    2. Re:It ain't easy by tibman · · Score: 0

      woah woah woah.. 10 years ago iTunes was not something you could buy music with or put music onto a device with. If you would have said "around 10 years" i would give it to you though. I would give you that it could put music onto the iPod.. but not that you could buy music. Wikipedia says the music store opened in April 2003. That was too late. Napster in 1999 changed the way many people got their music. Pirating became too easy! iTunes music store was not very nice in the beginning either. Low bitrate DRM songs that you could only put on your iPod.. no other device. That was also a fairly one-direction thing too. Getting music off the ipod was not easy/clean. It took many years for that to change.

      However, you are correct in many things. If you ONLY used apple products and services (the exception being you could use a supported Windows OS) then everything just worked.

      --
      http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
  15. close music and open video....humm... by maverickjesterx · · Score: 1

    Now I know i just read last week that Walmart was going to open an online Video store to compete against Netflix and now Amazon. I wonder what makes them think they can succeed at this when they failed with music and now why anyone would trust the service.

  16. Wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DRM servers?
    That means you can't listen to the songs offline?

  17. User experience by wrencherd · · Score: 1

    Having used the Walmart service a few times myself, I always found it to be a pretty good one.

    I remember being surprised at the extent of the catalog they offered, but that was at least more than 5 years ago.

    I should say that as highly as I value Apple's hardware––and used to swear by their software (now, not so much, just give us 'BSD for cryin' out loud)––I have never liked iTunes or its store.

    Walmart would've done better I think to put those "create your own mix CD" machines into their stores. I believe that was their original plan a long time ago and it's probably a better fit for their clientele.

    Of course, the downside would be kids hanging around the elec. dept. like it was a "malt shop", legal challenges from the RIAA about extra fees for discouraging album-unit sales, and teeth-gnashing from tweedy musicologists about how "Walmart is killing the concept album as an artistic medium."

    So, maybe it's better this way.