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Music Media Businesses The Internet

Wal-Mart Relaunches Online Music Store 413

Posted by timothy from the 88-cents-a-song dept.
ack154 writes "The latest competitor in the paid music download business will now open its 'doors,' as Walmart begins selling songs at 88 cents online. It had recently finished a three month testing period and now will open to everyone. According to CNN, however, they don't care so much about selling music, 'Analysts have said the goal for Wal-Mart is to bring more people to its Web site.' Maybe they're taking cue from Apple in trying to sell something (iPod) else by using a music store? Articles can be found at Reuters, CNN and others." amichalo points out that this is really a re-entry, writing "The service was previously launched last December. No explanation as to the re-launch (cough-poor-sales-cough) other than the addition of exclusive artists."
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Wal-Mart Relaunches Online Music Store More

Wal-Mart Relaunches Online Music Store

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  • Hmmmm (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:24PM (#8660027)
    Did that yellow happy face fly by and knock the price from 99 cents to 88 cents?

    • Re:Hmmmm (Score:5, Funny)

      by skinny.net ( 20754 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:29PM (#8660098)
      It was the Zorro-like smiley.

      The prices are cheap because they put the $.88 songs right there by the checkout button and you have to sift through piles of the exact same drivel to find a keeper down at the bottom and even then the box is torn.

  • woohoo (Score:5, Funny)

    by negacao ( 522115 ) * <dfgdsfg@asdasdasd.net> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:25PM (#8660046)
    Bargin Britney! yay!

    *kills self* :)

  • Censorship (Score:5, Funny)

    by stephenisu ( 580105 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:26PM (#8660059)
    Great, now I can buy all of my favorite death metal online, with all of the swear words censored by traM-laW. /ex Wal-Mart electronics employee

    • Re:Censorship (Score:5, Informative)

      by Cruciform ( 42896 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:30PM (#8660112) Homepage
      Doubt it. I just did a quick search for a few bands I listen to.

      KMDFM - no songs.
      Front Line Assembly - no songs.
      Slayer - two songs of some crappy various artists collection.
      Revolting Cocks - no songs.
      Cat Rapes Dog - no songs.
      Noise Unit - no songs.
      Rammstein - Three songs, two off the Lost Highway soundtrack, and one off a Depeche Mode tribute.

      So if you like bubblegum pop, hiphop, and country, Wal-Marts the place to shop. Otherwise, no dice.

    • Re:Censorship (Score:3, Informative)

      by subjectstorm ( 708637 )
      actually, no, you can't buy your favorite death metal at all.

      according to tech tv [techtv.com], wal-mart had pretty crappy selection oustide of popular mucic. With the upgrade, they've added a few exclusive country titles, but for death metal, you're still screwed (censored or not).

      whorray?!??!

      i'm scared of anything that wal-mart puts online after seeing their fantabulous "walmart connect" internet service. Imagine the old free ISPs like net-zero (with the movies that run while you connect) being genetical

      • Re:Censorship (Score:5, Informative)

        by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:49PM (#8660329) Homepage
        I'm a proud user of the Wal-Mart DVD rental service (Net-Flix basically)

        I don't have any problem with it at all. The movies get delivered fast, and the one time that I had a problem, I went on-line and clicked the "I did not receive this movie" button, and two days later it was at my door.

        So, not everything Walmart touches turns to crap.

        Oh- I've also gotten a lot of digital pictures printed by them- they did a great job, and it was cheap and easy...just the way I like it.

        • Re:Censorship (Score:3, Insightful)

          by HungWeiLo ( 250320 )
          So, not everything Walmart touches turns to crap.

          But what about the day that Wal-Mart has put all the mom-n-pop video stores out of business, and I decided I wanted to rent the Criterion Collection DVD of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai? I don't think this DVD qualifies Wal-Mart's 98% sell-through rate required to be sold there.

        • Re:Censorship (Score:3, Informative)

          by The Lynxpro ( 657990 )
          "I'm a proud user of the Wal-Mart DVD rental service (Net-Flix basically)"

          If you are happy with the business model, why not try the original, NetFlix?

          NetFlix has the larger amount of titles, they'll have more special interest than Wal-Mart, they won't be edited like Wal-Mart, and you won't be surprised if you receive a full-frame version (since we know Wal-Mart prefers that) instead of a widescreen edition?

          It seems to me if there is a better competitor out there, you might ought to give your business to

        • Re:Censorship (Score:3, Informative)

          by shokk ( 187512 )
          Just wait until a few more get lost and they freeze your account and start accusing you of stealing the movies and make you start an investigation through the post office that never gets anywhere. Bitter? Nah. I'm much happier now with my Blockbuster Freedom Pass and I cycle through movies more quickly than I could have with either Netflix or Walmart's by-mail service.

    • Re:Censorship (Score:5, Funny)

      by gcaseye6677 ( 694805 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:02PM (#8660494)
      When you go to their online store, will they have simulated sound effects of kids crying, video games, awful country music, and in store pages all playing through your speakers? You know, so that you get the genuine Wal-Mart experience. Now they just need to find a way to simulate that horrible smell of cheap plastic shoes.

  • ...but do they censor the online stuff too? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Penguinisto ( 415985 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:26PM (#8660061) Journal
    After all, Wal-Mart does have a habit of "editing" certain CD's for language content and such... did they do the same to their online versions as well?

    • Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by KingOfBLASH ( 620432 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:34PM (#8660163) Journal
      After all, Wal-Mart does have a habit of "editing" certain CD's for language content and such... did they do the same to their online versions as well?

      I would hope they would do something like Apple's iTunes -- offer both censored and uncensored versions of songs online. Even better, allow parents to set limits on their kids, so those who want their kids to have censored lyrics can have it, and people can go there for the prices without getting other peoples morales pushed on them.

      • Agreed.. there is no reason to play pastor and deem what is and what is not good for their customers, but.. hey, it's wal*mart, they have the right to sell or not sell what they choose.

        My curiousity was about the "Free Demo Song"

        I think they chose a horrible song to give away because:

        A) It is incredibly boring. The guy just strums his guitar and doesnt even have interesting lyrics, the bass that comes in is very, very light. Not really too musical. (I'm not saying that the artist is bad, I've never heard

    • Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too? (Score:5, Informative)

      by akikage ( 71044 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:35PM (#8660166)
      I don't think so. I specifically remember Walmart requiring the song list for Nirvana's In Utero to list the song "Rape Me" as "Waif Me" (Kobain's personal choice as replacement) before they'd sell it, but their online store lists it as "Rape Me".
    • I can only imagine that they will.

      WalMart has been pretty consistent about selling only music that has been stripped of offensive content. Which I find strange, given that they sell R-rated movies. I don't mind if they position themselves as family-friendly vendor - whatever works, I guess - but it sure isn't consistent.

    • Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too? (Score:5, Informative)

      by grondu ( 239962 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:41PM (#8660243)
      From their download site [walmart.com]:

      What does a song marked "(Edited)" mean?
      An "edited" song is an alternate version of a song that has been recorded without explicit lyrics.
    • Yes.

      Like the retail outlets, the online store will adhere to Wal-Mart's policy of not selling songs that carry parental advisory labels and instead offer the clean radio-play versions, Lin said.

      http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ ch ronicle/archive/2004/03/24/BUG855Q1831.DTL&type=bu siness
    • As much as I hate censorship in music (I guess you could say I have a stake in keeping music from being censored), I have to tell you that Walmart edits nothing, and neither does Blockbuster. They may refuse to sell an album or rent a video with content/rating they don't like, but ultimately it's the label or the artist themselves who edit the music and submit it for sale. It depends on the artist's contract.

      We all know Walmart sucks, but they sell 25% of the music sold in this country. That gives them

  • Wal-Mart unfair to small websites (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:26PM (#8660063)
    They build their mega-sized websites and put all the smaller websites in the neighborhood out of business.

  • Wonderful (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:27PM (#8660071)
    Now you can wait in line behind 20 300lb people with there kids running around there legs like a pack of wild dogs for hours before downloading your music.

  • Waiting in line... (Score:5, Funny)

    by franoculator ( 714656 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:28PM (#8660082)
    How long to you have to stand in line to check out?

    If I know Wal-Mart, 400,00 people will want to check out per hour, but their servers will only be able to hadnle 50,000 transactions in that same time period

    For that matter, how do you go about returning the song when it quits playing after a few days?

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:29PM (#8660088)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • What I personally find even more interesting is Walmart's TOS [walmart.com] (Terms of Service) which, seem to, at least in part, supersede their general privacy policy.

      12. Enforcement of These Terms of Service.
      [...] You agree that WALMART.COM has the right, without liability to you, to disclose any Registration Data and/or Account information to law enforcement authorities, government officials, and/or a third party , as WALMART.COM believes is reasonably necessary or appropriate to enforce and/or verify compliance wi

  • Sort of remarkable (Score:5, Interesting)

    by inkswamp ( 233692 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:29PM (#8660089)
    Whether you love Apple or hate 'em, you have to admit that it's remarkable that a computer company that is often viewed as a niche player may have actually outfoxed Wal-Mart and has put that company (often viewed as an unstoppable force in business) on a bit of a defensive position. Sort of amusing when you think about it. It would be really amazing to see if Wal-Mart, of all companies, were unable to compete with Apple in this regard (although I have no doubt that this won't be Wal-Mart's last effort.)

    • Re:Sort of remarkable (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Given that nobody, even the most frothing Windows bigot (if such a creature exists), actually likes WMA files, I don't see this getting far.

      "Wow. 88 cents a song for [Clean] versions of pop tunes which I can't play on my iPod, my Linux box, or most MP3 players? Hang on while I rush out to buy the latest version of XP and a supported portable WMA device so I can save 11 cents a song! I'll be right back!

    • Wal-Mart's strengths are its ridiculous buying power and its preternaturally efficient stock control. Neither of these are going to give it much of an advantage in this business - will the 10c saving per track really entice people from Apple?

    • Re:Sort of remarkable (Score:5, Insightful)

      by afidel ( 530433 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:37PM (#8660192)
      What I'm amazed at is that Walmart was able to beat enough price out of someone to lower the selling price by 12%. My guess is that the extra is coming out of the credit card companies who were probably told by Walmart that they better lower their charges or Wally World would start issueing their own credit cards that could be used at all Walmart locations, Sam's Clubs, and at the online store. Losing even a couple percent of Walmarts $250 Billion in revenue is enough to scare any corporation. I say this only because I doubt even Walmart could squeeze profit out of the record companies.

  • given the power that walmart has... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wankledot ( 712148 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:30PM (#8660102)
    I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying a LOT less per track to the labels than Apple, etc. are. Walmart is by far the most powerful force in retail, selling more CDs than anyone in the country. They can dictate to their supliers exactly what they want to pay, and they will always play ball. I'm sure they are capable of making more money than most other online stores for that simple reason. For an interesting look at Walmart's pricing, look around on the web for the article on the 1 gallon jar of pickles from Vlassic.

    With $250B in sales, that's $1k for every man, woman, and child in the US. So for the $3k they should get from my family (and won't) some other family is giving them $6k this year to make up for me not giving them a dime. It's staggering how huge they are.

    • I'm curious just exactly how much of a cut Walmart is taking from that 88 cents. If they really managed to put the pressure on the recording industry, then for once I can actually appreciate the store's strongarming abilities. Bravo.

      Of course, what that means probably is that the RIAA is keeping a larger percentage of the remaining cut and ripping off the artists. Maybe it will make the artists see the light, though, and realize they're better off without the labels. The only thing I really worry about, t

    • Walmart's Power (Score:5, Informative)

      by D-Fly ( 7665 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:02PM (#8660496) Homepage Journal
      The LA Times did an excellent series on Walmart's
      negative effects on US manufacturers, overseas suppliers, its own workers, and the US economy [latimes.com] last year. It was sparked by the impending entry of Walmart into the Southern California grocery market. Which also indirectly caused the painful, drawn out strike by workers at other grocery chains there.

      But my favorite story on Walmart I've read so far (other than the lady who was nearly killed [bbc.co.uk] last year in the scramble for a cheap dvd player) is Fast Company's analysis of the company's effect on US manfacturers [fastcompany.com].

      It starts, oddly, with a jar of pickles. And talks about how getting a distribution deal with Walmart eventually undermines and nearly destroys the Vlasic pickle company, due to savage cost cuts forced by Walmart, and undermining of the company's brand-image as they moved to selling big, cheap jars of pickles.

      Along the way, the article shows how Walmart forces US manufacturers to move overseas, and even advises them on how to do it.

  • Define "exclusive artists" Please? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pro_Piracy_Guy ( 699942 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:30PM (#8660104)
    ...other than the addition of exclusive artists.

    You mean Wal-Mart has artists that Kazaa does not?

  • Price wars!!! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FreeLinux ( 555387 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:30PM (#8660106)
    It was only a matter of time before the price wars started. I had always thought that Apple's 99 cents per song was higher than necessary though, not unbearable. Now Walmart answers with 88 cents. I'd speculate that thet'll be going for 50 cents by Christmas.

    Hey, where'd my key go???
    • 50 cent was already out last Christmas (Release date February 6, 2003 for Get rich or Die Tryin

      Or maybe you were thinking of getting 50 cent for 50 cents?
    • I wonder if price is really an issue though. For the mp3 player itself, it doesn't seem like Apple's premium price for the iPod is an issue at all. Then everyone went nuts when the iPod Mini came out at $250, yet again, the price wasn't an issue. What everyone raves about is the usability of the machine itself. I think that could be the case here too. Sure, you can get your songs eleven cents cheaper at Wal Mart, but do they have the music and do they have the user experience that iTMS has? iTunes isn't jus

  • Woohoo! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:30PM (#8660113)
    DRM'd AND censored! Now that's how I like my music... limited and g-rated.

  • Huh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:31PM (#8660118) Homepage Journal

    How will WalMart attach RFID tags to downloaded songs?

  • Oh, wonderful! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Scoria ( 264473 ) <slashmail AT initialized DOT org> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:31PM (#8660125) Homepage
    The Wal-Mart customers that are sufficiently technical already possess iPods. The Wal-Mart customers that aren't sufficiently technical are "wondering what this newfangled MP3 thing is."

    What a niche!

  • I wonder if they can make change... (Score:5, Funny)

    by The I Shing ( 700142 ) * on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:33PM (#8660145) Journal
    I wonder if the Wal*Mart music store can make change for one of these million-dollar bills I've got here.

    At the same time, I wonder if Wal*Mart will make musicians perform for 18 cents an hour in sweat-shop conditions in China in order to keep costs down.

    I respect Wal*Mart for being the wealthiest and biggest company in the world in the same way that I respect tobacco for being the #1 preventable cause of death.

  • Return Policy? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by thebra ( 707939 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:36PM (#8660180) Homepage Journal
    But will I be able to return the song if I don't like it?

  • Failure! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Prince Vegeta SSJ4 ( 718736 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:36PM (#8660183)
    Maybe, Maybe not. OK, I downloaded the 'sample' song, "What's you name" by Damian Anderson. Anyway, the file is encoded as WMA and does allow burning to a CD, although I haven't seen an option to convert to MP3 or another format. Further, if they are all going to be WMA, wont that allow for different Labels adding their own DRM into different files? In other words, you can burn some, but not others.

    WALMART.COM may from time to time amend, supplement or modify the terms of this Agreement. It is your responsibility to check these Terms of Service (available in the Music Downloads Help section) periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Service following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to the changes. If you do not agree to be bound by the Agreement as amended, you must stop using the Service.

    Also, looking at the useage terms

    What are the restrictions on how I can use the music I download? By purchasing a music download, you are entitled to: * 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 Microsoft Windows Media(R) Player 9 keeps track of the rights associated with each song. To back up your music, you will need to make copies of 1) the song files, and 2) the license files and transfer these to the new computer. Your song files are available in the place where you download your music. To back up license files, in Windows Media Player go to the Tools menu and click on License Management. You will see a dialogue box asking you where you want to store the license backup files. Click the "Back up Now" button to save the license files to this location. Then transfer the license files to the new computer. Please refer to the instructions in the Windows Media Player's help system for more information on backing up and restoring music to a computer.

    Of course you could re rip from the CD's and convert into the format of your choice, but that is an extra step, and I personally wouldn't pay for a service that doesn't allow me to easily do whatever I wish, with the data on my computer.

  • Wow - look at the usage policy (Score:5, Informative)

    by IamGarageGuy 2 ( 687655 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:37PM (#8660190) Journal
    If anybody sees the usage policy involved, they would certainly think twice. Media Player 9 only, need connection for first time played, must be played within 120 days to activate, can only burn CD's with Media player 9, cannot burn in any other format. Is this the norm? I can't believe people would not be put off by this.

  • My prediction? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Aslan72 ( 647654 ) <psjuvin.ilstu@edu> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:39PM (#8660216)
    They'll be out of business again in 3 months. People try and compete with apple only to go to the same miserable mistake: militant DRM.

    I hate to sound like a broken record, but *if* they were to ever drop their restrictive DRM and go with AAC, or something similar, I would darken their doorstep. Otherwise, I don't care if you offer .wma files for a penny a piece, they're not worth the space on my hard drive.

    The only people that will ever succeed in online music stores will be those that offer decent DRM that is fair to both the fan and artist alike.

    Get a clue Smiley yellow happy face guy

    --pete

  • The Wal-Mart audio format? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Chris Tucker ( 302549 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:40PM (#8660220) Homepage
    WMA, and requires Windows Media Player 9.

    To quote their website:

    (Sorry, no Mac or Linux.)

    Sorry, guys, you'll get no money from me!
    (Not like I shopped there, anyway.)

  • SO let me get this straight (Score:5, Insightful)

    by computerme ( 655703 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:40PM (#8660229)
    If i want to save 12 cents i get to:

    a) use a browser instead of the top class itunes store.
    b) i get to use some handcuff microsoft monoply DRM schema instead of the aptly named "Fairplay" DRM from itunes.
    c) I don't get to use their music with the number 1 (and coolest and functional) selling mp3 player in the world.
    d) i can't buy music if i use a mac.
    e) I get to add the to the walmart-fication of american which in my opinion is a mindset is destroying the quality of life in america?

    I'd rather spend the 12 cents....

    and BTW i have bought about 250 songs from the itunes music store....best music experience online...
    • But you can save a whopping $.55 if you buy whole albums! ($9.44) Yeah, I'd rather spend the $.12 or buy a couple more Pepsis.
    • 11 cents :)

      And yeah, iTunes is great... though my wallet may not agree!
    • Or you could spend even more and get a lossless hard copy with liner notes and album cover... ;-p

      It's always a trade-off. Some people will make it, others will pay more to get more.

    • Re:SO let me get this straight (Score:5, Informative)

      by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:13PM (#8660632)
      b) i get to use some handcuff microsoft monoply DRM schema instead of the aptly named "Fairplay" DRM from itunes.

      [from Walmart [walmart.com]]
      What are the restrictions on how I can use the music I download?
      By purchasing a music download, you are entitled to:
      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

      [from iTunes [apple.com]]
      In a nutshell, your FairPlay agreement entitles you to:
      play your music on up to three computers (and enjoy unlimited synching with iPods),
      allows unlimited burning for individual songs and
      lets you burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times each.

      Except for AAC v WMA, iTunes v browser, Apple v Microsoft/Walmart, they sound quite similar.

      But we'd never let facts get in the way of a good opportunity to get modded up by slamming MS, would we?

      • Re:SO let me get this straight (Score:4, Informative)

        by Blondie-Wan ( 559212 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @09:07PM (#8663344) Homepage
        There are some notable differences. First of all, where the Wal-Mart terms say you can download to 1 computer and back up to 2 others, they mean this:
        What computer should I use to download my music? You should download your music to the one computer where you keep your digital music. Once you play a song, it can be played, burned or transferred to a portable player from that computer only, based on the usage rights for that song.
        By comparison, any of the three machines you put iTunes music on has full privileges for burning CDs, transferring to iPods, streaming over a network, and/or using music in your iMovies, iPhoto slideshows, and iDVDs (a whole type of usage absent from most other services, AFAIK). If you buy Wal-Mart downloads, you can only burn CDs and transfer to portables from your primary machine, and you can't change it. Not only do you get full usage on each of the three machines with iTunes, but you can deauthorize a comp and authorize another in its place - very useful for upgrades. With Wal-Mart, a song is forever tied to that one computer you downloaded it on, and the first two you backed it up on - when you move to your next box, the music doesn't go with you.

        Also, there's a very important distinction between "Make 10 burns to a CD" (Wal-Mart) and "burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times each" (iTunes). With the former, a given song can only be burned 10 times, ever. With the latter, it's just that a particular playlist can be burned ten times before you have to change it. Any individual song can be burned to CD as many damn times as you please - and even a playlist can be burned more than ten times, so long as you change it every ten burns. This can be as simple as changing a single track (adding one, deleting one, changing order, whatever) - and you can then change it right back if you like. Effectively, then, you can even burn the same whole playlist as many times as you like; you simply have to intervene at least once every ten burns. This is just so you don't set a machine to mass duplicate 100 copies or whatever of a playlist and walk off, come back, and start handing out copies of that playlist to a hundred strangers. You can still do essentially that, but you have to at least intervene; apparently that's considered just enough of an annoyance factor that they don't worry about people doing it.

        Between those two things, the iTunes service is ultimately much less restrictive - you can burn songs as many times as you like (as opposed to just ten), and you can have whatever three computers you want each have full privileges for the music, and can change them around whenever you like (as opposed to having full privs on just one of the three machines, and being unable to change the machines when you replace one).

    • Re:SO let me get this straight (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Lizard_King ( 149713 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:47PM (#8661018) Journal
      I'm a fellow Mac/iPod owner and ITMS user, but I have to play devil's advocate to your arguments, because they are... well... just too "typical" from Mac supporters (no offense).

      use a browser instead of the top class itunes store.
      This is probably a major benifit for a lot of folks. Think of those windows users who don't have XP or 2K yet... they can't even run iTunes.

      i get to use some handcuff microsoft monoply DRM schema instead of the aptly named "Fairplay" DRM from itunes.
      And for my benefit, explain to me what the difference will be? I know everyone hates M$, but Apple does a lot of the same shit.

      I don't get to use their music with the number 1 (and coolest and functional) selling mp3 player in the world.
      A subjective statement. Some people can't afford the "coolest" player in the world. Me thinks that s probably the target customer group for W*Mart

      i can't buy music if i use a mac.
      Why not? You won't be able to play it in iTunes, but the last time I checked, you can use the Mac version of the WMA player. Did I miss something?

      e) I get to add the to the walmart-fication of american which in my opinion is a mindset is destroying the quality of life in america?
      Can't argue with that.

      I'd rather spend the 12 cents....
      Or $30 in your case, since you've purchased 250 songs from ITMS.

  • Price no 99 cents (Score:3, Informative)

    by TechKiller-Jam ( 691752 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:42PM (#8660250)
    If you live in a state where Wal-Mart has a physical store location you MUST pay sales tax. At 7% sales tax, the song will cost 95 cents.
    • actually 1.07*0.88 = 94 cents. Actually that brings up an interesting question, must you pay sales tax if you live in a state which has an Apple Computer Store?

    • Re:Price no 99 cents (Score:4, Insightful)

      by pegr ( 46683 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:29PM (#8660826) Homepage Journal
      Why would you pay sales tax? They're not selling you anything. For a fee, you have permission to use the IP in a restricted way. This fee is not a sale.

      You can't even resell the download you pay for as it's forbidden in their terms of service! If I can't sell it, I don't own it. If I don't own it, they didn't sell it to me. If they didn't sell it to me, theres no sale to tax.

      You don't pay sales tax on your apartment rent, do you?
  • I just bought The Clash's Essential Clash yesterday at Circuit City. How much? $13.90 with tax for 40 tracks. Keep shopping.

  • Who can tell me... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jvollmer ( 456588 ) *
    Will mplayer allow me to recode these *.wma files as mp3s?

    If so, how do I do it?

    If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!

  • is there a NON WMA based service? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by enrico_suave ( 179651 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:43PM (#8660268) Homepage
    Can someone recommend one that sells "mp3's" as opposed to WMA crap?

    I have an older archos hard drive based multimedia jukebox and it doesn't do WMA's...

    thanks,

    *shrug*

    e.

    • eMusic was great, until they dumped their unlimited download model.

      They still are the only service that offers VBR MP3's, completely unencumbered by DRM. Dollar for dollar, they've still got the best deal, though, if you like music from indie and second-tier labels.

      I was sold on how they carried a pretty vast selection of Metropolis and Cleopatra artists.
    • The best one I've found is AllOfMP3 [allofmp3.com]. It was recommended on /. a while back in a thread and I (nervously) decided to check it out. I put $10 into my account via PayPal and ordered a bunch of MP3 encoded tunes. Haven't looked back since. Tracks wind up costing you around $0.10 a piece for high bitrate encodings and there's absolutely no DRM. The draw back (or positive depending on how you look at it) is that they're based in Russia. I'll vouch that they won't steal your money but I can't vouch for the "to the
  • Well, since wal-mart usually provides stuff at a bargin but many things are not high quality...will that transfer to their music??? Such at just a bit rate of 96khz.

  • As I've said at the original launch (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:46PM (#8660301) Homepage
    Wal-Mart could make a killing if it offered kiosks in its stores where you could download and burn music. There are a lot of people who don't use computers, are ignorant about computers, who don't own burners, etc, but would LOVE to buy various CDs of their favorite songs.

    And Wal-Mart could force the music industry to go along with the deal. If some label refused, Wal-Mart could simply refuse to stock their entire catalog. No label could survive being shutout by Wal-Mart!

  • Amazon Free Music Downloads (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Archalien ( 197877 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:49PM (#8660341)
    Its kind of weird how I haven't heard anything yet about Amazon's Music service [amazon.com].

    Everything is free (legal, but selection isvery limited, no uniform media-format) and they allow anyone to upload their own music to be downloaded by others.

  • Summing up all the slashbot reply: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:50PM (#8660344)
    $0.88 is too expensive, it should be $0.00, drm less, high quality waves/flac/ogg/mp3/midi/etc, fast downloads, have a catalog containing all the music ever created, and also give us a copy of the origional cd!

    As a consumer I am sticking with p2p until they fully meet my demands!
  • Exclusive Artists?

    What artist would possibly go exclusive with Walmart? The Whistling Yellow Smiley or The Walmart Carolers?

  • I find it rather amusing that according to this website [digitalmusicnews.com], Wal-Mart's 88 cents per track price point "...will be minimized by sales taxes that apply to customers that have a Wal-Mart in their state."

    Another reason, among many, to keep using the iTunes Music Store. 50 million downloads [apple.com] and counting. :)
  • perhaps i'm missing something, but the only way to view the songs is via a multi-page list. for example, if i search for "pearl jam", it will display all of the songs for sale by pearl jam on six seperate pages. i can sort them by title, album, etc. but there are no individual pages for albums, or individual pages with a listing of all their albums. that site already needs to be redesigned.

  • William Hung (Score:3, Funny)

    by BMonger ( 68213 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @03:56PM (#8660426)
    Until you have William Hung [apple.com] as an exclusive artist you might as well hold off on opening the music store. He's the only money maker out there.

  • Absolutely Fascinating!! (Score:3, Informative)

    by sniepre ( 517796 ) <sniepre@gmail.com> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:04PM (#8660512) Homepage
    I just was surfing through the music archive.. and check this out!

    Excerpt from the tracklisting on the CD "Dirty Vegas - Dirty Vegas"

    1. I Should Know - Listen - 6:13 - $0.88
    2. Ghosts - Listen - 5:22 - $0.88
    3. Lost Not Found - Listen - 4:08 - $0.88
    4. Days Go By - Listen - 7:12 - Song only available with album download.
    5. Etc.. Etc..

    WHOA! They take the main hit track off the CD, and not let you purchase that one individually... make you buy the whole CD! (Apparantly because that track would be the only REASON people would by the CD) .. Thus keeping the old concept of "I bought the CD cuz' I heard the song on the radio" alive on the net.. very tricky...

    Anyone else noticed any other albums exhibiting this pattern?

  • Sample song works on a mac (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nattt ( 568106 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:06PM (#8660550)
    "Note: Music downloads from Walmart.com will not play on the Apple Macintosh or Linux operating systems." according to the Wal mart notice on their sample download. So I tried it anyway. The wma file downloaded and played straight away in MPlayer. I'm on a mac. Are they lying, or is MPlayer magic or what?

  • TERRIFYING DOWNSIDE (Score:5, Funny)

    by StefanJ ( 88986 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:22PM (#8660738) Homepage Journal
    When you click the "Accept these Terms" button, you agree, if you share your downloaded files, to be hunted down and slashed to bloody bits by that floating yellow price-cutting happy face.

    Those things are the real secret behind Wal-Mart's success. They lurk behind the shelves looking for shoplifters*, and God forbid employees even whisper "union" within a hundred feet of a SmileBot.

    Stefan

    * You know that weird-tasting fatty meat served on top of the Wal-Mart lunch counters? Ever wonder where it comes from?

  • so who is Wal*Mart screwing? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Lynxpro ( 657990 ) <lynxpro@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @05:22PM (#8661340)
    I'd like to know who is getting the screw job from Wal*Mart due to the $0.88 price tag they are offering their songs at?

    Why do I ponder this? Because Apple isn't making profits off $0.99 per song because they have to pay for the micropayments to the credit card companies, the large cut to the RIAA, the cut to the record label, the hosting fees, and finally, the artist.

    So am I to believe the RIAA cut its staggering cut to appease Wal*Mart? Was it the individual labels? (doubtful) Or did the artist lose out yet again?

    If Apple can't clobber Wal*Mart, I will root for Sony...and I will feel odd doing so.

    btw: isn't this a bad idea to sell WMA formatted songs on walmart.com when their great selling Linux PCs won't be able to take part in such a business endeavor?

  • All hail FatWallet [fatwallet.com]:

    Here are some legal (in Russia!) MP3 download sites - most flat fee:

    allofmp3.com [allofmp3.com]
    This site is locally legit and songs can be downloaded for as little as $0.01 per MB. That's around 3 cents per song.

    DELit [delit.net]
    Unusual emphasis on hard rock and metal acts (east European and Russian youth apparently worship metal acts)

    3MP3.ru [3mp3.ru]
    $4.55 per month for unlimited downloads.

    And you are not stuck with the typical iTMS low-quality 128Kbit file. Most of the Russian sites let you choose your quality and give you the option to do "online encoding" where you can select the settings you want. When the pop up screen shows up you can hit switch to advanced mode toward the bottm and you get the following options:

    You can choose between the LAME or BLADE codec and 128, 160, 192, 256, and 320 kbps for each (constant bitrate). Or you can choose LAME variable bitrate at 128, 160, 192, or 256.

    If you enjoy these services, 3MP3 should be your first stop to see if you can find what you are looking for at the lowest price. Then I'd move to allofmp3, followed by clubmp3.ru, and then DELit.

  • Napster and Target (Score:3, Interesting)

    by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @09:10PM (#8663382)
    Roxio (Napster) has an interesting setup at Target these days.

    Across the isle from the traditional CD's and around the corner from Apple's iPod display including cool $15 pre-paid iTMS gift cards sits Roxio's marketing "all in".

    They have branded Napster pre-paid cards (at $14.85 vs. Apple'
    s $15 pre paid card, though you do get $15.00 worth of single tracks or full albums) as well as "Napster brand" blank CD's (perfect for audio burning) and even CD cases for your car, complete with the Napster Kitty logo.

    I think this is brlliant myself. They are making Napster the Brand - so everytime you pull out that burned CD, today, tomorrow, two years from now, you remember you got that crap for $99 a track off Napster.com. Plus, they are sure to make better margins off their re-branded merchandise than on their $0.99 music.

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