Wal-Mart Drops DRM for Universal, Tweaks Pricing

Written by A. L. Friedman

Tuesday, August 21. 2007 at 01:45 PM EDT Post a comment

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It's baby steps for Wal-Mart, who today announced that it will be offering DRM-free mp3s in its online store as part of Universal Music Group's test period. The files are higher quality, clocking in at 256 Kbit/s, as opposed to 128 Kbit/s for the wmv files at the store.

The mp3s sell for 94 cents a pop, six cents higher than the 88 cent wmvs, but that price difference is negligable compared to iTunes Plus's thirty cent mark-up. Full albums go for $9.22, with some albums marked down to $7.88 or $5.88. If you still don't have Get Rich Or Die Trying, get thee to Wal-Mart for the six-dollar download.

The Wal-Mart store still only works on PCs running Windows XP or Windows 2000 and is still only functional in Internet Explorer. Oh, and they still only sell edited versions of rap albums. But at least they are getting something right.