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Quite a few people have commented that Wal-Mart's music service is less restrictive in terms of use rights than other download services. However, I have refused to by music at Wal-Mart for several years and will not be using their download service because of their policy of only offering edited versions of most CDs. Just search for Outkast or any other rap artist and you'll see that this apparently hasn't changed. Also, on a funny note, there is page after page of "Blank Track" listed for Nine Inch Nails' Broken. One or two of them is actually for sale for $.88!

apparently The Beatles have only released 1 album, titled "In The Beginning" ($9.44) Can someone please explain to me what the fuss is about a band with only 1 CD???

This just serves to illustrate the same weakness in all the gazillion music stores so far: it's still a long way before they begin to have anything like a full collection of music.

...here, though only as complete albums (and mostly censored ones at that). Still missing a few big-name artists (for example, the Red Hot Chili Peppers), but it'll be interesting to see how the iTunes holdouts fair here.

-----

Heineken? fuck that shit... Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Is anyone else mildly amused by the fact that a Wal-Mart PC can't play Wal-Mart music files?

According to their license and usage, one can download the music to 1 computer and back up music to up to two additional computers, make 10 burns to a CD and make unlimited transfers to a portable device. That's if you use WMP 9 on a PC. I was able to download the sample song, play it *and* transcode to mp3 with VLC (too lazy to cmd-line it with other tools) on OS X with no troubles. I tried the same with a song I paid for and got nothing. VLC choked on it, MPlayer gave me no sound and WMP for OS X tried to send Safari to a web site (no doubt for the DRM part).

I'm looking forward to seeing a thorough comparison of the quality of Wal-Mart's encoded WMA (I couldn't readily find the encoding details) and Apple's iTunes AAC. I doubt that Wal-Mart is the store of choice for audiophiles, so I'm suspecting Apple's downloads are of better quality.

iTunes wins hands down on interface, usability and reliability. I can't see Wal-Mart's web-only interface winning them any converts. And, as I was checking back just a couple seconds ago, it appeared to be just starting to feel some pain from the /. effect (it was alot faster earlier today).

The potential "problem" is price. 88 cents is hard to beat, especially when folks are downloading Britney Spears latest pop hits (again, not the audiophile audience). I suspect Wal-Mart *is* making money, if only because they are leveraging their position as the number one retailer. "Want us to carry alot of copies your new album in our store? Then, you'll let us put your song on our online service and let us make money there too!"

Right now, as a Mac user, I just blew 88 cents on a song I'll never be able to hear. They lost a *potential* customer by locking my platform out. That may be their biggest downfall.

First, make sure you have MPlayer installed and then go to the Mplayer site and download all the win32 codecs. Extract all the codecs to /usr/lib/win32. Now MPlayer, Xine and Totem can play just about any audio/video file you throw at it.

Go to Walmart's Music Sample page and download the test wma file named 829757140926_01_02.wma.

From your favorite terminal, type this command:

mplayer-ao pcm 829757140926_01_02.wma

Encode with oggenc:

oggenc -q 6 audiodump.wav audiodump.ogg

lame -b 160 -h audiodump.wav audiodump.mp3

I wonder how much attention they're paying to what they are throwing online. Here's a sound effects CD for 88 cents per effect. Bizarre.

Their FAQ says:

WMA files protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption cannot be transferred from computer to computer. If you want to play music you downloaded from Walmart.com on another computer [..], you must burn your music onto an audio CD to play it.

128 bit encrypted WMA which they claim is "CD Quality." You can't send them as gifts (which sounds like a cool idea now that they mention it). The says
All rights in the Products are owned by WALMART.COM or its licensors and you have only a limited, nontransferable, nonexclusive, revocable, nonsublicensable right to use the Products for personal use in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

The songs will be in WMA (Windows Media audio) format, and according to Walmart.com spokeswoman Cynthia Lin, the site will abide by the same content format as found on CD racks in Wal-Mart stores, which don't sell music with content the company deems offensive. On the website, the company notes that some songs are flagged as "edited" to denote a song was recorded without offensive lyrics.

Censored music. Yuck! Why don't they just let the listener decide what is and what isn't appropriate? Shesh!

Maybe not, but that's what I pay (in parts, not counting time of course) in Sweden. The Duron is $30, 40GB Seagate Cuda $50, box (Q-Tec smiley) $20, RAM $30, an Asus MX all-in-one mobo for $40 and with floppy, CD, rat, keyboard and cables for another $30 you're home. Or, if you don't want to build one yourself, go to Walmart - they have several sub-$200 models, with or withour Lindows, hell they even have one for a few dimes under $160 (no harddrive in that puppy, but I bet it runs Knoppix just fine).

Riiiiight.

Right. Seen any 333MHz 1.2GB PCs on dell.com lately? No? That's because there aren't any. They are obsolete. You'll find them in dumpsters, yard sales or on Ebay for free or a reasonable facsimily of free.

Maybe not, but that's what I pay (in parts, not counting time of course) in Sweden. The Duron is $30, 40GB Seagate Cuda $50, box (Q-Tec smiley) $20, RAM $30, an Asus MX all-in-one mobo for $40 and with floppy, CD, rat, keyboard and cables for another $30 you're home. Or, if you don't want to build one yourself, go to Walmart - they have several sub-$200 models, with or withour Lindows, hell they even have one for a few dimes under $160 (no harddrive in that puppy, but I bet it runs Knoppix just fine).

Riiiiight.

Right. Seen any 333MHz 1.2GB PCs on dell.com lately? No? That's because there aren't any. They are obsolete. You'll find them in dumpsters, yard sales or on Ebay for free or a reasonable facsimily of free.

they are also extremely accessible

Do you mean that anybody can buy one from Apple.com or an Apple Store for $1700? You can get a computer at WalMart for about $900, that will meet the needs of most users. And WalMarts are much more common than Apple Stores

Or, by accessible do you mean more user friendly? That's a matter of personal perspective. I've know poeple who've tried a OS X and hated it. Same with Windows, Linux and *BSD. Most people prefer to stick with what they know.

Please clarify.

Wal-Mart sells PCs with Lindows on them from their website.

Walmart sells them with Lindows, Lycoris and Suse preinstalled. My links are for the cheapest ones I could find with the respective software (the first two are identical in hardware, the Suse machine appears to be different.

This past weekend, I ordered one with Lindows and one with Lycoris for my kids. They've been using Linux in some form either dual boot with W98 on one computer and Fedora or Knoppix hd-install on the other on Pentium 200's (ouch) with no problems. I'll let them try the Lindows and Lycoris first and put the Knoppix or another distro on it if they don't like them. I have never bought a complete computer before but the $199 for everything sounded too good to pass up.
My total cost with tax and shipping was $446 for both computers.

Hopefully, all goes well with the machines. If not, I'm sure I'll be posting my negative experience in the next Lindows/Lycoris/Walmart PC/cheap computer/Linux on the Desktop story on slashdot!

Wal-Mart sells PCs with Lindows on them from their website.

Walmart sells them with Lindows, Lycoris and Suse preinstalled. My links are for the cheapest ones I could find with the respective software (the first two are identical in hardware, the Suse machine appears to be different.

This past weekend, I ordered one with Lindows and one with Lycoris for my kids. They've been using Linux in some form either dual boot with W98 on one computer and Fedora or Knoppix hd-install on the other on Pentium 200's (ouch) with no problems. I'll let them try the Lindows and Lycoris first and put the Knoppix or another distro on it if they don't like them. I have never bought a complete computer before but the $199 for everything sounded too good to pass up.
My total cost with tax and shipping was $446 for both computers.

Hopefully, all goes well with the machines. If not, I'm sure I'll be posting my negative experience in the next Lindows/Lycoris/Walmart PC/cheap computer/Linux on the Desktop story on slashdot!

Wal-Mart sells PCs with Lindows on them from their website.

Walmart sells them with Lindows, Lycoris and Suse preinstalled. My links are for the cheapest ones I could find with the respective software (the first two are identical in hardware, the Suse machine appears to be different.

This past weekend, I ordered one with Lindows and one with Lycoris for my kids. They've been using Linux in some form either dual boot with W98 on one computer and Fedora or Knoppix hd-install on the other on Pentium 200's (ouch) with no problems. I'll let them try the Lindows and Lycoris first and put the Knoppix or another distro on it if they don't like them. I have never bought a complete computer before but the $199 for everything sounded too good to pass up.
My total cost with tax and shipping was $446 for both computers.

Hopefully, all goes well with the machines. If not, I'm sure I'll be posting my negative experience in the next Lindows/Lycoris/Walmart PC/cheap computer/Linux on the Desktop story on slashdot!

> ..I could see maybe BestBuy or Circuit City adding a few linux PCs to their lineup, but WalMart?

YES WALMART!

one word Wal-Mart"

That is blatantly false.

Or, you could look at 2 Microtels. 1.2 Duron, 40Gb HD, etc, etc.

WinXP for $308
Lindows for $318

The only difference between the machines is the Win box has 128 MB ram, and the Lin box has 265.

And, as I said in the parent, once you get to the 2+ Ghz machines for ~4-500, the price difference disappears.

The Non-Win boxes should be significantly cheaper. But, for whatever reasons Walmart's marketing dept has, they're not.

That is blatantly false.

Or, you could look at 2 Microtels. 1.2 Duron, 40Gb HD, etc, etc.

WinXP for $308
Lindows for $318

The only difference between the machines is the Win box has 128 MB ram, and the Lin box has 265.

And, as I said in the parent, once you get to the 2+ Ghz machines for ~4-500, the price difference disappears.

The Non-Win boxes should be significantly cheaper. But, for whatever reasons Walmart's marketing dept has, they're not.

Do you know how much Walmart will be paying for an OEM version of WinXP? I'm going to guess with their buying power: not much.

You'd be mistaken. Compare these two very similar machines:

1.2 GHz Duron, 30 GB, 128 MB, No O/S: $199.98

1.3 GHz Duron, 40 GB, 128 MB, Windows XP home: $308.00

Looks like Walmart has to pay about $80 for the OS. Despite their buying power, Microsoft clearly has even more monopoly power.

Interesting side note: it was very, very difficult to find two models offered by Walmart similar enough to factor out the cost of Windows. I seriously doubt this is coincidence, I suspect that Microsoft still has illegal contractual restrictions in place to make it difficult for customers to assess the true cost of Windows.

Do you know how much Walmart will be paying for an OEM version of WinXP? I'm going to guess with their buying power: not much.

You'd be mistaken. Compare these two very similar machines:

1.2 GHz Duron, 30 GB, 128 MB, No O/S: $199.98

1.3 GHz Duron, 40 GB, 128 MB, Windows XP home: $308.00

Looks like Walmart has to pay about $80 for the OS. Despite their buying power, Microsoft clearly has even more monopoly power.

Interesting side note: it was very, very difficult to find two models offered by Walmart similar enough to factor out the cost of Windows. I seriously doubt this is coincidence, I suspect that Microsoft still has illegal contractual restrictions in place to make it difficult for customers to assess the true cost of Windows.

I really hope Wal-Mart decides to sell notebooks with both Lindows and Windows. It will never be mentioned in the press, but many people would buy the cheaper of the two, then chuck Lindows and replace it with a pirated copy of Windows.
They know that seeing two identical machines side by side in Wal-Mart, people will see how expensive Windows really is.

Non-Windows (Lindows, SuSE, etc) PC's are not really cheaper at Walmart than Windows PC's. Look at equivalent spec machines, and the difference is very, very little. Don't believe me? Look it up. The $200 PC's are 1.2 Duron's. Once you get to 2+GHz machines (Celeron or P4) at ~$4-500, the price difference is nil.

Go look it up.

New York, New York:
A new era in ultra-low-cost computer is being ushered in. In September 1998, a startup company calling themselves "eMachines" decided to rise to a challenge only Tandy had previously been able to truly accomplish: set the minimum for all computers produced from their inception on. Today, however, Wal-Mart announced that they will indeed be creating their own ultra-low-cost microcomputers also. This is a shocking announcement that has truly rattled the industry, and eMachines has released a short press statement for all of its concerned investors:

Wayne Inouye, President and CEO of eMachines, has clarified our goal even further with this most recent announcement by rival mass producer of cheaply manufactured goods Wal-Mart: "We will NOT be fazed by this ridiculous move by such a terrible, monstrous, top-grossing company like Wal-Mart! They cannot rival us, for our features at the lowest cost we can possibly churn them out at profitably are just unbeatable! For example, our newest eMachines laptop, yes, it is cheap too, comes STANDARD with USB 1.1! Over 1.1523 times faster than USB 1.0! In addition, you can easily purchase one of our wonderful value monitors in a bundle deal, which we guarantee has no more than 519 dead pixels! C'mon, folks, forget Wal-Mart, just run to Best Buy and pick up an open-box returned eMachines(for even cheaper!)." Further, we plan to release new machines in the spring. A new high-end feature may be AGP expansion slots, so stay tuned to the eMachines corporate investor newsletter for more on this groundbreaking announcement.

Wal Mart is already on the defensive, claiming that the new laptop computers will be "...the first stylish computers under $800 to include a smily face logo somewhere on the machine."
Incredibly, Wal-Mart says it may even venture to include an "...awesome, stunning, 11" XGAVGAVWGVA screen that provides more pixels(a full 480 by 320!!!) for a lower price and more letters!" The company also reportedly plans to offer a 15-inch model for slightly more, upping the resolution to a finely grained 640 by 480.

And in related news, SCO has released a statement that the aforementioned XGAVGAVWGVA screen may somehow have something to do with UNIX, and therefore they have filed a suit for 1,000,000,000,000 dollars, with Darl McBride drunkedly commenting "We's a' gon' takes dem' 'thar economy downs wit' us!"

The new machines will be offered the first quarter of 2004 for an as-yet undetermined price, not to exceed a price which would have at least 75% profitability, sources say.

Beware! Some of the most successful projects for pushing Linux to the desktop are already adopting some of Microsoft(tm)'s worst schemes!

Just look at the Lindows style of running everything as root!

(And, if Microsoft is wise, they could find ways to preserve application monoculture even if Linux displaces Windows on desktops. It's concievable that in a decade they might willingly retreat from the OS business and just write applications, which is where the big money is anyway)

Um. Not entirely true. Go to Walmart. Search for "Cypress".

Notice the funny little "Edited" comments next to the Cypress Hill cd tittles? That means its censored.

I have always bought my music at Best Buy, since discovering this little "feature". Last weekend, was the last weekend of purchasing ANYTHING at Best Buy, after I was asked for my telephone number. That is a story for another time.

Personally the paranoid part of me thinks they just wanted the excuse to key my license number into their database. Doesn't explain why I've gotten away with buying booze there and not being carded thou."

That doesn't surprise me. I got carded at Wal-Mart for buying paint (not industrial size, little jars so I could paint a plastic table) when I was 22. PAINT! I've also been carded there for buying white-out. That is why I'll never go back to Wal-Mart. Apparently, wal-mart shoppers have a problem with inhaling said products and killing brain cells. They'll card you for buying office supplies, or home improvement supplies, but here! Have a gun! Don't listen to music with nasty words though, it might make you want to use that gun in a bad way. Oh, and don't look at magazine covers while you're in line, that's immoral. The sooner that place goes away the better off this country is as far as our rights and freedoms go.

Wal-Mart has several advantages. First it can blast out info about this service though it's retail stores. Second they will be cheaper than Apple (or else they wouldn't be entering the market), Wal-Mart has a ton of power over suppliers and can get their prices very low. Apple or any of the other services don't have the brick and motor sales has leverage.
Wal-Mart undercut Netflix's prices and they will do it to Apple.

First, let me agree with the previous poster who said that if they want games, they should buy a console system.

Next, let me point out that Gamers have system requirements that far exceed those of "average home users". These requirements are usually measured in FPS or in Mb of video card RAM.

Finally, let me point that many people have claimed that "average home users" (i.e. my grandmother) want to:

• surf the web
• send and receive email
• write the occasional document or spreadsheet

Given that KDE and Gnome are both eminently qualified to support that short list of applications (on eight-year-old hardware, no less), then why in the name of all that's holy shouldn't the "average home user" be running a Linux box?!? New systems are available for less than $300; $200 if you'll use a cable modem or DSL!! Toss on an extra $100 if you have to buy a new monitor, or get one at ebay.

First, let me agree with the previous poster who said that if they want games, they should buy a console system.

Next, let me point out that Gamers have system requirements that far exceed those of "average home users". These requirements are usually measured in FPS or in Mb of video card RAM.

Finally, let me point that many people have claimed that "average home users" (i.e. my grandmother) want to:

• surf the web
• send and receive email
• write the occasional document or spreadsheet

Given that KDE and Gnome are both eminently qualified to support that short list of applications (on eight-year-old hardware, no less), then why in the name of all that's holy shouldn't the "average home user" be running a Linux box?!? New systems are available for less than $300; $200 if you'll use a cable modem or DSL!! Toss on an extra $100 if you have to buy a new monitor, or get one at ebay.

First, let me agree with the previous poster who said that if they want games, they should buy a console system.

Next, let me point out that Gamers have system requirements that far exceed those of "average home users". These requirements are usually measured in FPS or in Mb of video card RAM.

Finally, let me point that many people have claimed that "average home users" (i.e. my grandmother) want to:

• surf the web
• send and receive email
• write the occasional document or spreadsheet

Given that KDE and Gnome are both eminently qualified to support that short list of applications (on eight-year-old hardware, no less), then why in the name of all that's holy shouldn't the "average home user" be running a Linux box?!? New systems are available for less than $300; $200 if you'll use a cable modem or DSL!! Toss on an extra $100 if you have to buy a new monitor, or get one at ebay.

The real question of whether or not the end user "sees" the value is the comparison between the "vanilla" Windows machines and the "vanilla" Linux ones. If a store offers Windows and Linux computers with the specs you described, than I will admit that shoppers may not "see" the value shopping at that store.

Those exact specs and prices were from Walmart as of this morning. Basically the same price for a Win or Linux PC out the door. So, given that..convince the average buyer to go with something different than Windows.

Not easy.

Well, I've got some good news for you, Wal*Mart now sells cheap inverters, so it's entirely possible for you to hook up your Tivo. Considering that yesterday I saw an amateur radio operator with about 3 rigs and 9 antennas on his car, I don't think you should have too many problems fitting an LCD screen and a PVR in your car.

I see the Linux desktop market occupying the $150-$300 disposable desktop range. Apples with OSX are incapable of competing in that price range. And don't let that $799 price tag fool you. There are a lot of expenses associated with operating in the Apple world that have nothing to do with the purchase price of the machine.

The Apple way of doing things has more overhead than the PC way of doing things, it always has and always will. That's not to say it's inferior! The Ferrari way of doing things will always be more expensive than the Ford way of doing things but you don't see Ferrari owners longing for a Ford or Ford owners kicking themselves for not buying a Ferrari. There is a place for both business strategies. But just like Ferrari's will never be mainstream cars, Apples will never be mainstream business machines. It's just not what they do.

P.S.

I hate the idea of monitors built in to the computers. Montiors last 3-4 times as long as computers do in my household. You waste a bunch of money by bundling the two together, especially when it's a LCD monitor that get's bundled (shudder.)

The MP3 stereo I got was $150 from Wal-Mart last year; you can get this for ninety bucks now. I'll just be getting the old one installed in my car instead of the current stock tape deck, but it'd still be cheaper to get a new one than to use a laptop. Plus, the stereo's more space-efficient.

--grendel drago

Please provide such clues to the people reading this who want to become no longer dumbintercourses. What backup methods would you recommend for somebody who can't afford a ludicrous-speed Internet connection or a non-sub-low-end second computer?

A bit off-topic, but has anyone noticed that stores always call couches "sofas" and never "couches?" Examples: Ikea, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel and even Walmart! When recently looking to buy a new couch, I couldn't find a major site that sold "couches."

I think company's sell "sofas" because "couches" are perceived as things slothy people buy. Lazy people "lounge on the couch" on the weekends. The American culture always uses the word "couch" to describe unmotivated people's television watching habits.

But in the eyes of marketers, consumers must see sofas as possessions of elegant, worldly people who are out and about. Motivated, outgoing people buy "sofas" to decorate their posh interiors! "No couches for me, sir, I want a sofa!"

the whole 'PCs are cheaper than Macs' theory is gonna get a lot less credence.

There are low-end Macs, mid-range Macs, and high-end Macs. There are low-end Winboxes, mid-range Winboxes, and high-end Winboxes. However, there are sub-low-end Winboxes such as eMashit and Microtel PCs, but Apple makes no sub-low-end Macs.

The Simputer is a neat idea
but who is going to buy them
if you can already get something cheaper/faster
with more storage?

Here is a 1.2 Duron with a 20 gig drive for $200 US.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product _id=2138700&cat=86796&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3 944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796

Of course if you have no place to plug it in
then you're hosed.

What's the point when for $200 the "poor" could by a Linux pc from Wal-Mart.

Let's not discount the fact that the per capita GDP in India is $2,540, which would make a $200 PC in India worth $2960.63 in US dollars (US per capita GDP = $37,600).

Some help that is...

portable DVD players are still way expensive.

Wal-Mart sells a portable DVD player with a 4.2" color screen for about $180. Larger models, even from well-known brands, are about $300. That's well under the price of a laptop with a DVD drive, unless you buy a used laptop that's 4 years old.

Anyway, imagine Walmart selling something besides Lindows, Lycoris, Win XP Home, or "No OS" equipped PC's.!

Of course we all have loads of OS's sitting around, and would opt for the one without an OS, partition the HDD, and put 'em all on it! That's what I'd do...

But I don't do XP then, for obvious (product activation) reasons.

1. Lycoris Desktop
2. Lindows
3. SuSE

My beef with the whole 2-companies thing is that you'd think he'd be a little more sensitive, given how:

1. everybody's up in arms over the stupidity SCO is pulling
2. SCO and SuSE being partners in UnitedLinux
3. SCO just this week appointing a new vp snatched from SCO

As an avid outdoorsmen and survivalist, I can say you're on the right track here but there are a few things neccesary to your survival that you're neglecting.

A non-electric cooking solution is probably something that most people should have anyway. As someone already mentioned, cooking with gas is a much better way to cook due to predictability and fast reaction to change. Gas service is available in most suburban and rural areas, however it may be impractical for those in the city. For those who are some reason bound to their electric stove, or for those who want to be prepared for emergencies, camp stoves are an excellent alternative. Cheap camp stoves can be found at walmart, like this one. That stove relies on propane for its fuel and is a bit bulky for some. For those who are interested in a portable and extremely flexible solution there are several backpacking stoves which burn just about anything. The MSR XGK Expedition advertises that it burns anything from white gas to jet fuel, including auto-grade gas and kerosene, and it only costs $109.95, really not too bad of a price for something that could be invaluable in a blackout.

While a warm meal is a wonderful "bonus" during a disaster, it's really not too much of a requirement. Considering most "disasters" seem to last around a week, one could easily survive on other forms of nutrition for that long. It's always a good idea to keep a few powerbars, clif bars, or other form of highly compacted nutritional bar around. More important than food though is water. Even if the worst case scenario were to hit and you were caught totally off guard with no food in the house, you can survive for quite some time on your lovehandles, thunder thighs, and beer (or geek) gut, as long as you've got WATER. Again for the camper/hiker/backpacker there are tons of great portable water filters out there that should make damn near anything drinkable. If you're planning on staying at home a filtration pitcher is a good thing to have, unlike faucet based filters, you can use the pitcher with water collected from any source (rainwater if need be).

But food and water are only one thing that you should be prepared with. Especially for the northerners, you should have some way of keeping warm. Now, if you're in a suburban or rural area, a woodstove may be the best way to "kill two birds with one stone", not only can they heat an entire house with flexible low-cost high-availability fuels, but in an emergency you can cook on them too. Regardless of what you're using to heat your home, there are a few simple items that can save your life in a "disaster" situation by keeping you warm. The first and maybe most important is a good sleeping bag. The body burns a ton of calories just trying to stay warm in cold weather, with food and water supplies possibly a concern, it is in anyone's best interests to stay as warm as possible. For those of you who are only looking at in-home emergencies, wal-mart sells cheap zero degree bags, and if your home should drop to below zero god help you. Anyone into camping/hiking or who would like something to keep in a car should check out a

Yes, they probably need to be drug tested. After all, I don't think that you should piss off Wal Mart who is selling linux pcs.

Yes, they probably need to be drug tested. After all, I don't think that you should piss off Wal Mart who is selling linux pcs.

One thing you got to remember is that the blank CD's we pay for, some of that money goes back to the companies that make music

One thing you got to remember is that the blank CD's we pay for, some of that money goes back to the companies that make music

With how common current red laser DVD systems have become, the technology has dropped in cost dramatically. Walmart even has an Emerson DVD Player for only 60 bucks.

Even Though violet laser DVD systems are on the market now, it will be some time before their cost comes down, and it will be almost as long before we start seeing DVDs out on the market that would take advantage of this feature. It seems to me that if you want to see DVDs that the $60 or so for a DVD player now could be worth it, depending on how much you have to spend. Then when violet laser system prices come down and DVDs for them are available, you can get one of those. THere will still be pleny of regular DVDs around, so the red laser unit won't go to waste for a long time.

~Mike