Comments on: Wal-Mart Pulls The Rug Out From People Who Actually Bought Music From Its Web Site

By: Reidicus

Reidicus — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:45:59 +0000

OK, I know I’m an outlier here, but I keep my entire music library on a 500 GB external hard drive, then I back it up once a week on another 500 GB HD, which I keep in another place. (Firewire drives are very cheap right now.) No reason why a lot of digital music-addicts people can’t do this.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:26:41 +0000

@BladeRunner11: I do agree with that - if the prices are about the same, I'll always go for a physical CD. If there a difference of, say, five dollars, though, I'll usually go for digital and save the money and shelf space.

Being able to download your purchases again in case of a crash would definitely be nice - eMusic is a DRM-free service that (sort of) allows this, although it's subscription-based and I think you can only re-download files when the subscription is active - but I really don't see where there's a security issue with downloaded files. If you burn the files to a DVD, then they're just as secure as a CD from a physical store - only way you could lose them is if you lose the disc.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:05:46 +0000

@therighthandofnixon: i'm saying that a physical product always trumps a digital one. if companies started keeping track of non-DRM mp3s that customers bought, and if someone's hard drive fried, that they could backup their entire library with a single login. that would reassure me about security.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:59:18 +0000

@Maura Johnston: Of course, I should have gotten that. In terms of worrying about software upgrades, it's a non-issue - I can't imagine a media player ceasing to support plain old MP3s, and they could just as well stop supporting CDs. And anyway, without DRM no one can stop you from switching to another program.

I can't argue with The Van Buren Boys' point. Although with DVD burners it's not too big a deal to back up a few thousand songs.

By: The Van Buren Boys

The Van Buren Boys — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:44:01 +0000

@Maura Johnston: I also think he meant "What do you do you do if your computer gets fried and your hardrive ends up ruined with no backup." Backing up important files is one thing, but backing up several thousand songs is another. This happened to me a few months ago but thankfully 95% of my music is on CDs anyway. I have never purchased a music file and don't plan on ever doing so.

By: Audif Jackson Winters III

Audif Jackson Winters III — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:22:28 +0000

I think we’re all being conditioned to accept the subscription model as the only safe bet for buying music online.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:14:01 +0000

@therighthandofnixon: i think he means "less likely to crap out in case of a software upgrade."

By: sicksteanein

sicksteanein — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:08:55 +0000

So are they actually telling you how to crack the DRM in that press release?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:00:09 +0000

@BladeRunner11: What exactly do you mean by "more secure?" Are you afraid that the RIAA is tracking what you do with the purchased files or something? Because that's getting pretty heavy into tinfoil-hat territory.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:42:15 +0000

Any stats on how many DRM-smothered albums were sold through Wal-Mart’s digital store? Can’t imagine too many rednecks were getting their Kenny Chesney fix from the internets…

By: Lax Danja House

Lax Danja House — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:27:28 +0000

"OK, I can't believe I'm sort of taking Wal-Mart's side on something."

"the store's ever-present desire to squeeze any bit of profit it can out of its doings"

This is a strange way of sort of taking Wal-Mart's side, Maura!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:20:58 +0000

i will continue to buy cds in stores unless silly labels and online distributors can convince me that the mp3s they sell are more secure than physical products that i can rip over and over to other computers and instantly pop into my home and car stereos.

i predict that will never happen.

By: okiedoke

okiedoke — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:13:51 +0000

Actually, that inventory is no longer being carried because the music wasn’t recorded in China.