Andre Yoskowitz
26 Jul 2008 12:51
On Thursday we reported that Yahoo had decided to shut down the DRM servers for their Yahoo Music download service. The problem with the decision is that if users ever need to reformat their PCs or move the music to a portable media device they will lose the ability to the play the music, entirely.
The company plans to soften the blow however, by reimbursing customers, possibly giving back every dollar the user spent on the service.
Carrie Davis, spokeswoman for Yahoo Music, has confirmed today that the servers will indeed be shutdown but that reimbursement was coming.
"You'll be compensated for whatever you paid for the music," Davis said. "We haven't said exactly what we will do, but we will take care of our customers."
Because every customer has a different story, the reimbursement plan will be on a case-by-case basis. The company has now posted an FAQ page that includes a "contract customer case" button for any former or current users of the Yahoo Music Store.
It seems users will have two different options of reimbursement, either get all their money back, or receive DRM-free MP3s of each song they purchased that had DRM. Considering you can burn the DRM tracks to a CD and then re-rip them as DRM-free MP3s, the better deal would appear to be doing that and then asking for your money back.
Davis also made sure to note that the reimbursement only pertains to users of the Yahoo Music Store and that any monthly subscribers would have their services transferred to Rhapsody.