Wal-Mart said that it was now selling digital music downloads on its Web site without the customary copy-protection technology that limits where consumers can play the songs. Wal-Mart said its new MP3 music catalog included thousands of albums and songs from major record labels like Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and EMI Group without copy-protection software, known as digital rights management.

Wal-Mart said it would sell the “DRM-free” MP3 downloads of music by artists like the Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse and Maroon 5 for 94 cents per track or $9.22 per album. It said the new format let customers play music on almost any device, including iPods, iPhones and Microsoft’s Zune portable media player.