Los Angeles - Retail giant Walmart (NYSE:  WMT) has announced that it will shut down the servers maintaining access to customers who purchased security-protected songs from its online store before the company abandoned the use of digital rights management (DRM) in February 2008, Hypebot reported.

In an email to customers, Walmart suggested that customers who purchased DRM-wrapped songs back them up on CD; otherwise, after Oct. 9, they will no longer be accessible should one need to reinstall their operating system or suffer a system crash.

The company initially said in September 2008 that it would discontinue DRM server support, but after hearing from customers, it said in October that it would at least temporarily continue support.

Both Microsoft and Yahoo were forced to alter their own plans to discontinue support for DRM servers, with Microsoft (NASD:  MSFT) pledging to continue support through 2011, and Yahoo (NASD:  YHOO) offering to refund the song purchases.

While songs sold at Apple’s (NASD:  AAPL) iTunes Store are now DRM-free, the company has given no indication that it intends to discontinue support for them.

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(Hypebot)

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