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Wal-Mart Music Download Service Launches
nns6561 writes "Wal-Mart launched their music download service today. They are providing wma files for 88 cents. I was able to download and play the test file with MPlayer and Linux. Finally, a music service for us geeks." While it may be only another online music seller, I'd hazard a guess that Wal-Mart has the name recognition to be the most prevalent music download service, especially among the tech-unsavvy.
They seem to be a bit less restrictive than Napster2.
From their usage agreement:
You may download music to a single computer. You may then transfer music files and backup license files to up to two (2) additional personal computers. You may play music an unlimited number of times on up to three (3) personal computers. You shall be entitled to 1) burn Products solely for personal, non-commercial use up to ten (10) times and 2) export Products solely to a portable device capable of playing Windows Media (TM) Audio ("WMA") files such as a WMA-compliant MP3 player an unlimited number of times. WALMART.COM is a reseller to you and does not accept orders from music dealers, exporters, wholesalers, any businesses of any kind or other customers who intend to resell.
Emphasis mine.Still, I won't pay for any music until I can burn it to CD in MP3 or Ogg format. My car has an MP3 player and changing CDs every hour or so has become as objectionable to me as following the speed limit.
As for the submitter's claim that wal-mart might be able to make this the "most prevalent online music service," whatever happened to the ISP that wal-mart tried to float? I rest my case.
How many roads must a man walk down? 42.
The test file said "Thanks for shopping at Wal-mart!
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Here's what you need to play a song: A Windows PC. See all system requirements. Windows Media Player 9. Get it now for free. Approximately 10 MB of disk space on your PC. A connection to the Internet the first time you play a song. If you currently have a Windows Media Player installed on your computer, you may be prompted to update certain components of the player before you can play the song. Click here for information about installing, configuring, and troubleshooting your Windows Media Player.
Who do they think we are? This is /. by God. We shall never be held by the "requirements" of simpletons!
Game Overdrive - Gaming News
I always wondered what WMA stood for.
they analyze their first day traffic and see Slashdot as their number one referrer, Linux i386/i686 as their number one OS, and Mozilla/Gecko as the number one browser.
So, does this mean that their music folders are going to be a complete mess like the aisles I wander down in Wal-Mart when I visit?
Will I have barefoot pregnant mothers with no front teeth jostling me so they can download "Shania Twain's Greatest Hits" first in the queue, before me?
Will my internet connection be trampled over, causing me to pass out, as a mob of people try to download the new cut price 77c song?
Boy oh boy, I can hardly wait!
1) Apple doesn't kow tow to M$ by using wma. They use their own format, with decent DRM policies. That's more than enough for me to keep using them.
2) They bundle their store with free burning/ripping/playlist software and seamlessly integrate it. The only thing Wal*Mart is good at integrating is their supply chain.
3) Apple is a company that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when I buy their products. Did Wal*Mart create the first music store? No. Did Napster develop a really great MP3 player? No. Apple innovates, and that's why I like them.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
So in the interests of full disclosure the price should really be marked as "88 cents...AND YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL!"
I bet that would've messed up the formatting on their website or something though. Oh well.
According to this:s ervlet/ TourServlet?pageIndex=1
e rvlet/ TourServlet?pageIndex=0
http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/
Macs are out!
Yet this page has a screenshot from a mac!
http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/s
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.
You've never met a Walmart customer, have you? Not people that go to Walmart to buy condoms and liquor at 2 in the morning, I mean customers. The psychotic women who take 5 kids down there every other day. They recoil in horror at a $0.06 markup on the one fucking jar of pickles they buy a year. They're caught in the Cult of Walmart, and they will ford a river with a dozen fucking oxen to save $0.10 on little Susie's shitty Linkin Park song. And if Susie points out the free would be even cheaper? Then Susie is fucking wrong, goddamnit, because nothing is cheaper than Walmart, you hear me? NOTHING!
um...
2 yes...
3 yes...
4 yes..
5 * actually between illeagal aliens cleaning the freaken floors and 4 count them 4 women bitching about being screwed over from working there...the only media coverage I hear about wal-mart is considerably more than any other retailer and it's all bad
* Congress having no power over Wal-Mart? Are you sure? You're reading that wrong anyway...it's Congress that doesn't care to have power over Wal-mart because they are paid to not care.
* not sure about that last bit
1 You really screwed up on #1...
** "Full-Time" (actually 28 hours/week) employees only gross $11,000 a year,
on average.
* Actually at the Wal-Mart I work at everyone gets full 40 hours a week. The only time they cut back are the months Jan-March the slowest months of the year. There are a lot of older people working at wally world that have been with the company a while. 10 years ~= 15/h stocking shelves. Not that I plan on being here more than a few more months though
** Health benefits are available only after two years, but premiums are so high only 38% of employees can afford it.
* Where the hell are you getting your info from? NO! From the day you start you can get a third party health insurance. After 6 months you are qualified for health insurance...38%? Did you pull that out of your ass? It costs me 35 bucks a pay check and 3 bucks for dental...who can't afford that?
** Even discussing working conditions or unionization will result in retaliation and firing.
* I can tell you've never worked there before. No actually working conditions are talked about all the time. In fact me along with 14 other people at the Wal-Mart I'm working at all got $1 raises because we used something called the open door policy stating that other places would be paying us the same amount...it took a while but we got the raise. We talk about unions all the time...but most people agree that paying money for some union is a joke at the rate we get paid. Who will pay the bills if we HAVE to go on strike? And who needs more money taken out of their small pay check for it?
** There is "a harsh, anti-woman culture in which complaints go unanswered and the women who make them are targeted for retaliation." (Quote taken from a national class-action suit against Wal-Mart.)
* I have 2 store managers that are women and about 7 other women above me in the chain of command. Your quote is from 4 women out of how many that work at Wal-Mart? How many of the Waltons (you know the owners of Wal-Mart...there are 5 of them) are women? `
Yes Wal-Mart damages the local community and exploits labor in third world countries. However, I really doubt half the stuff you hear in the NEWS/MEDIA is in any way acurate about the realities of working there. It's a sucky job...yes. It pays crap yes. And I'm sure it will not be here more than another decade given how many people like you seam to hate it with such a passion. But despite everything that is bad about it...nah you know what there's nothing I can say good about the place...I just wanted to correct the mis-stated facts you made.
Take it from someone that works there...Wal-Mart is EVIL!!!! But it's no different from the thousands of other retailers...Cosco? K-Mart? and the job is a McJob...but what do you expect? We have to work somewhere. I suppose if places like Wal-Mart where outlawed (which they would have to be in order to prevent another one from doing the same thing) the only places left would be small mall stores...I doubt they would pay much better...it would still be another McJob.
Oh...by the way. I'm one of those CS majors from college that was a Junior before he had to take a job at Wal-Mart stocking shelves because everyone hiring required 5+ years experience.
Apple doesn't kow tow to M$ by using wma. They use their own format, with decent DRM policies.
An additional point that is often lost on slashdot discussions is the fact that Apple's "AAC" format isn't just something they made up, nor is it something that Apple "controls." It's the audio component for the mpeg 4 standard which was created by several biggies in the industry.
Contrast this with Microsoft's "WMA" format. Who made it up? Microsoft. Who can change it any time they wish? Microsoft. Who can determine which players, companies, computers, people can play the files? Microsoft.
Do you trust Microsoft not to abuse that position? I thought not.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?