Yahoo Music: Refunds or DRM-Free Music

Yahoo Music: Refunds or DRM-Free Music

Techtree News Staff, Jul 30, 2008 1620 hrs IST

After announcing plans to shut shop in September, Yahoo Music is offering refunds or DRM-free music.

Sometime back, Yahoo Music had announced shutting down its store and DRM licensing servers on September 30 this year. Now, Yahoo Music Unlimited promises music buyers the option to take refunds or get DRM-free version of tracks previously downloaded or purchased.

This announcement came in the wake of MSN sending out emails to its members regarding the shutdown of its DRM servers by August 31. Faced with complaints and strong agitation from MSN Music customers, MSN has finally decided to keep DRM servers running for three more years.

Yahoo Music Unlimited is busy transferring their customers to RealNetwork's Rhapsody music service. Last week Yahoo Music announced a halt on track authorization keys, thus spreading the fear of rendering purchased songs unusable on other computers and devices.

Two possibilities emerge - either Yahoo will continue running DRM-servers or MSN music buyers will demand refunds, taking their cue from Yahoo Music's refund offer.

An Internet Users advocacy group named Electronic Frontier Foundation has already filed a call for refunds against both Yahoo and MSN.