Walmart: The Dell of Online Music Retailing

[Pat Logsdon]

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-517...ml?tag=nefd_top

"On Tuesday, the mammoth chain retailer formally opened its online music store, from which customers can download music at 88 cents per song. That's 10 cents less than Apple Computer charges at its iTunes music store, which has been the pacesetter on this e-commerce track.

The Wal-Mart service allows customers to play downloaded music on Windows PCs, to burn songs to a CD or to transfer music to portable devices. Usage rights are uniform across the company's catalog of music. The retailer began testing the service in December and is working in partnership with Liquid Digital Media, formerly Liquid Audio."

The tracks are in WMA format, so they should transfer easily to Pocket PCs via Windows Media Player. On a side note, it looks like their policy of editing/censoring music has been carried over to their online store. Try a search for "Eminem" and see how many of the results carry the "Edited" label.

Do you see this service as being a credible alternative to iTunes? Or even to Napster?

[Pat Logsdon]

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-517...ml?tag=nefd_top

"On Tuesday, the mammoth chain retailer formally opened its online music store, from which customers can download music at 88 cents per song. That's 10 cents less than Apple Computer charges at its iTunes music store, which has been the pacesetter on this e-commerce track.

The Wal-Mart service allows customers to play downloaded music on Windows PCs, to burn songs to a CD or to transfer music to portable devices. Usage rights are uniform across the company's catalog of music. The retailer began testing the service in December and is working in partnership with Liquid Digital Media, formerly Liquid Audio."

The tracks are in WMA format, so they should transfer easily to Pocket PCs via Windows Media Player. On a side note, it looks like their policy of editing/censoring music has been carried over to their online store. Try a search for "Eminem" and see how many of the results carry the "Edited" label.

Do you see this service as being a credible alternative to iTunes? Or even to Napster?

[darrylb]

As soon as these services are available for the rest of the world, I'll let you know :roll:

These things are great. But the majority of the world (i.e. that which is outside of the US) cant access them. I wish I could!

[shawnc]

Originally Posted by Pat Logsdon

The tracks are in WMA format, so they should transfer easily to Pocket PCs via Windows Media Player.

Do you see this service as being a credible alternative to iTunes? Or even to Napster?

WMA means in INSTANTLY goes to the top of my list!

[Gremmie]

I don't think it'll be a good competitor, Walmart is unlikely to sell downloads that have swear words or have parental warnings. Besides, would 10 cents make someone navigate away from iTunes?

[MultiMatt]

Originally Posted by Gremmie

Besides, would 10 cents make someone navigate away from iTunes?

NOT ME!
I can't STAND Wally World, and will not patronize them.

I'll gladly pay the extra .10 to iTunes. If another company - one that I would patronize - were to sell the songs for less, then I'd go for it.

But not them...

Matt

[pivaska]

It is good to see a great company like WalMart has something that as a grandparent I know my grandchildren will be able to go to in a "safe" download area for songs. 10 cents is a big thing to them because it means that you can get one more song for "free" with the same amount of money. Plus WMA is the only way to go.

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by pivaska

It is good to see a great company like WalMart has something that as a grandparent I know my grandchildren will be able to go to in a "safe" download area for songs.

I believe that most critics are unhappy with WalMart's policy not because they only sell edited versions, but they don't make the distinction that they've done so, so you can't tell.

Anyway, I've gotta side with MultiMatt. I'm very happy with the iTunes setup, and feel no inclination to change.

--janak

[szamot]

at $.25 that would be worth it at $.88 it's not bad but still not for me.

[Jonathan1]

As a rebuttal in the format wars:

DVD Forum chooses Apple music format for DVD Audio


As for Walmat it has been know for a while that the following apply to their service:

* Download the music to 1 computer and back up music to 2 additional computers (see instructions below)
* Make 10 burns to a CD
* Make unlimited transfers to a portable device

This is similar to iTunes with one major exception. 10 burns per song. Period.

How many times can I burn a song onto a custom CD?
You are licensed to burn a song to a CD 10 times. If you try to burn a CD after that, Windows Media® Player 9 will deliver a message indicating that you are not licensed to make any more burns to a CD.

So in reality those 11 cents you are saving is deducted in your ability to use the music. I understand that there may be more then a few people that will never burn more then 10 copies of a song but consider the length of time you may have this track. It’s a good possibility in 2 or 3 years you may hit that 10 song limit and for me I know for a fact that if iTunes acted the same way I would be very close on some of my tracks. Maybe 7-8 burns so far. And we won't even get into the discussion of needing to backup the licenses for DRM WMA files. iTunes you simply need to backup the files. Its the player that gets activated from apple but for those that are "creative" enough we can get around that.

Thanks but I will stick with AAC. I just found that the AAC format, or maybe its an apple thing?, allows you to embed album art into the file. It’s not a big deal but its little things like this that makes me like AAC more and more. That and I swear in a side by side comparison of a 128kb/s WMA9 and AAC file the AAC file sound....*shrugs* I don't know the word. richer?? :?:


PS - Yes I'm aware of the irony that Windows Media 9 video codec was chosen as the next format for DVD video and AAC was chosen as the next format for DVD audio.

[ctmagnus]

Personally, I try to avoid Walmart as much as possible. I can't stand going through a store in a mall to get to your vehicle and have someone put a sticker on all the bags you're carrying, just so you won't be able to steal anything from that store. Especially if all the bags are from stores a few notches up the snooty scale. Other reasons: Wal-Martization aka suburban sprawl, The Economy Sucks, and it's WalMart's fault! and an article I read in September about the corporate antics of their founding family.