Wal-Mart Ditches DRM, Keeps Censorship 455
Smiley Face writes "Wal-Mart has hopped on the DRM-free bandwagon with today's announcement that it will be participating in Universal's DRM-free sales pilot. The quality looks good: 256Kbps MP3 for 94 cents apiece, but customers are likely to be turned off by the retail chain's continued censorship. 'It's a bit hard to believe that all the customers who shop at the world's largest retailer want censored versions of music, though, but that's what they get. Only edited versions of albums with parental advisories are available, just as they are in Wal-Mart's offline stores. This isn't a new policy; Wal-Mart's online music store has carried only edited versions for years, but it's worth pointing out to potential new users tempted by the lower prices and lack of DRM.'"
edited only... (Score:4, Informative)
And worse yet, sometimes they edit out things that aren't offensive at all.
Re:censorship (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why should *every* song say "fuck"? (Score:3, Informative)
It is bowlderized, not censored. (Score:5, Informative)
That dude thought the Holy Bible has sections too racy for children and young people and so he brought out an edited version.
Censorship is when the Govt uses its power to silence an expression. As others have noted, Walmart is not preventing the record companies from selling profanity laden songs in other places.
government, corporation, and individual can do it (Score:5, Informative)
As a store that is owned by someone(s), managed by someone(s), they have the right to decide what it is that they will and wont sell.
censorship [thefreedictionary.com] - deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances
censoring
deletion - the act of deleting something written or printed
Bowdlerism - censorship in the form of prudish expurgation
Comstockery - censorship because of perceived obscenity or immorality
Not all censorship is equal [gilc.org], nor does all arise from government or external force.
censorship [answers.com], official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by a religious body, or occasionally by a powerful private group.
I don't know who taught you to think that it's not censorship when it's done for profit, but you were lied to. Censorship is done by whoever has the power to do it, no matter if the power used to do it is by nature political, capital or personal.
Re:edited only... (Score:5, Informative)
The mind boggles.
Re:Very Competitive: Walmart wins 3 of 4 (Score:3, Informative)
Most of the rest of them will have no clue what formats their 'MP3 player' plays, but most of them do in fact support AAC. The older el-cheapo devices that didn't will mostly be in a drawer collecting dust. The tiny minority with an MP3-only device are likely to be less interested in (purchased) online music, since they figured out years ago that none of the major online music stores were selling something that would work for them.
MP3 may have some name recognition, but it's really just jargon. Lots of people think the iTunes store sells MP3s.
Re:Worthless store (Score:3, Informative)
What do you mean? Isn't it an opportunity for the town to have a better store with lower prices due to highly efficient union labor? HAHA!
BTW, that's not what happened according to the article that YOU linked. The store was already unionized. The union played chicken with its members livelihoods and lost. I really can't believe it doesn't happen more often.
Re:Is is disclosed? (Score:1, Informative)
With that said, people can't carry pools around in their back pocket and stuff someone's head in to drown them, it's not easy for a malicious person to hide a pool or their intent on drowning someone. If you try to drown someone in a pool, you won't easily miss and drown someone else.
Get your head out of your ass, moron. Just because someone says guns shouldn't be around kids, doesn't mean they're against people owning guns..... so ignorant.
Re:edited only... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It is bowlderized, not censored. (Score:3, Informative)
By "the Holy Bible", you mean "The Works of Shakespeare"?
Did you even read your own link?
Re:Is is disclosed? (Score:3, Informative)
The word you're looking for is "exacerbates."
You're welcome.