Wal-Mart joins DRM-free party

Wal-Mart opens digital store door to iPhone users

US retail giant Wal-Mart has kicked off a new line of DRM-free tracks in its online store.

The company will begin to offer 256Kbps MP3 files to users without digital rights management, which limits users' ability to copy and share files.

The DRM-free songs will cost 94c each. The store will continue to sell DRM-equipped 128Kbps Windows Media Audio (WMA) formatted downloads at 88c.

The tracks will come from EMI Group and Universal Music, which had previously agreed to allow vendors to remove the copy protection from song files.

The new MP3 offering will also allow users to play songs purchased from Wal-Mart on Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune media players.

Neither device supports the DRM-restricted WMA content that Wal-Mart sells and this was a prime reason for the move, according to Kevin Swint, senior director of digital media at Wal-Mart.

"As we consistently strive to help our customers shop smart at Wal-Mart, our new DRM-free MP3 digital tracks give them the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value," he said.

The move will make Wal-Mart the second major online music retailer to offer DRM-free music. Apple announced earlier this year that it had struck a deal with EMI to distribute DRM-free music.

Universal, however, chose to leave Apple out of its DRM-free plan after the two companies were said to be in the middle of a rocky negotiation p rocess.