Wal-Mart begins selling DRM-free online music

Consistent with an emerging trend that seems to be addressing the recent acknowledgment by the larger online music services, Wal-Mart has begun selling songs online free of digital-rights management, or DRM. DRM was originally inserted into songs as a method to stop online piracy of music, but lead to more problems than benefits as consumers found ways around it, and also experienced the frustration of attempting to play a song with DRM on a non-iPod brand MP3 player, such as the Creative Zen or Microsoft Zune.

Additionally, Wal-Mart will be selling the songs 94 cents a piece, compared the recent price-increase by Apple's iTunes at $1.29 per track, though the iTune's songs do come at a higher audio quality.

What are your thoughts on DRM and how does it impact your purchases of online music? Does it mean anything to see a large retailer such as Wal-Mart, which is normally frowned upon in the punk community, selling music not only cheaper but without the restrictions that many were so avidly against? Let us know your thoughts below.