Yahoo Shuts Down DRM Servers Today, Reimburses Customers

News > Sep 30 2008

By Shane SinnottToday (September 30) Yahoo is shutting down the DRM servers used in the Yahoo Music store. In a stand up move, the company is offering coupons or refunds to customers who find their songs unplayable after the shutdown. The action was praised by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was lobbying the company to delay the DRM shutdown.

In a statement, the EFF says: "Yahoo's decision sets a good precedent for when this problem inevitably arises again, vendors that sold DRM-crippled music must either continue supporting tech neither they or their customers like - as MSN Music chose to do - or take Yahoo's path and fairly compensate consumers with refunds."

It’s sad that this even needs to be argued for, but at least the precedent seems to be set that companies owe you a song if they willfully render your purchased one unplayable.

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