Sony BMG offers DRM free music but only in retail stores
It’s no secret that one of the major last bastions of DRM music will finally be giving that up but only to customers who visit a retail store. Sony BMG will begin offering DRM free music but it must be bought using “album cards” and a new website set up by the company.
Best Buy, Target and Fred’s will be the first to sell the “album cards” which will cost about $12.99. The cards function a lot like gift cards and must be activated at the store, the code on the card can then be entered at MusicPass.com which will allow the customer to download the album the card was for.
According to USAToday, there will be an initial selection of 37 albums from artists including Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Carrie Underwood, Santana and others.
Each card is good for one download but Sony says there are provisions for backups in case of data loss.
There are three problems I can see with this. The first is that you must visit a retail store, buy a card good for a single album and go home to download it, this might have been a little easier to swallow if “download kiosks” were provided in the store and second, you must purchase a whole album which, at best, has two or three songs you actually want on it.
And third, how about providing cards that allow you to download $12.99 worth of music and make it your choice of what you want.
Leave it to Sony to even get DRM free music completely wrong.
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Probably, but only if you select to download the “special extras” that are on offer.