Wal-Mart Goes Live With EMI and Universal DRM Free Downloads.
WalMart.com has added DRM-free MP3 music downloads from both Universal and EMI at 94 cents per track and $9.22 per album. Wal-Mart is one of the first major retailers to offer MP3 digital tracks with music content from both major record labels.
The new MP3 music catalog includes hundreds of thousands of songs and "will be continually expanded with additional mainstream and independent music content". Wal-Mart will continue to offer existing WMA-format music downloads offering customers the option of MP3 downloads at 256 kbps for $.94 per track or WMA-format downloads at 128 kbps for $.88 per track.
Rhapsody also announced that they had launched added DRM free tracks form Universal starting today. But neither Wal-Mart, Rhapsody or even iTunes seem in any hurry to add the millions of DRM free tracks available from indie record labels on eMusic and elsewhere.
