Has Sony Just Ended The DRM War?

The last holdout in the DRM war between Record Companies and Consumers may have just thrown in the towel and began selling DRM free music, even if they are making you go to a record store to buy it. Techcrunch is reporting in their blog post that starting mid month, you will be able to buy a “Platinum Music Pass” for the album you want and then redeem the pass for DRM free music on a internet website.

I'll bet that the in store requirement is just a face saving move that will fade within a month or two, and then all the major recording companies will be offering DRM free music over the internet, and no doubt where the recording companies go today the movie studios will follow soon after.

I for one won't miss looking over my shoulder when playing my MP3's on my Smart Phone. DRM was a bad idea when it started and will remain a bad idea in the future.

Check out what Techcrunch has to say in Sony BMG Confirms DRM Free Music, But Will Force Customers to Visit A Store To Buy It:

As we reported January 4, Sony BMG will become the last of the big four record companies to sell DRM free music, but with one very stupid catch. DRM free music from Sony BMG will be available from January 15 to those who purchase a plastic card called the “Platinum Music Pass” for the album they want from a retail store for $12.99. Buyers will then have to visit MusicPass.com and enter a code to download the DRM free album they selected in the store.

According to a USA Today report, Best Buy, Target and Fred’s will be first stores to offer the cards, with Winn-Dixie, Coconuts, FYE, Spec’s and Wherehouse to follow.

When we first wrote about Sony BMG offering DRM free music we were positive on the move, and it still is a step forward, but forcing customers who want to buy digital music into a physical store where they will be forced to pick the album then and there, then go home to download it…WTF?. It’s nearly like Sony BMG is setting this up to fail, so they can then go back to only selling DRM infested music whilst saying that there wasn’t demand for DRM free music because this experiment failed.

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