Wal-Mart Relaunches Online Music Store

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."

Comments

Hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Did that yellow happy face fly by and knock the price from 99 cents to 88 cents?

Re:Hmmmm

[skinny.net]

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

[negacao]

Bargin Britney! yay!

*kills self* :)

Censorship

[stephenisu]

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

[Cruciform]

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

[Neil Blender]

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


Very true. I went to Walmart once. Turns out they don't sell asyncronous laser diode current controls either.

Re:Censorship

[subjectstorm]

actually, no, you can't buy your favorite death metal at all.

according to tech tv, 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 genetically spliced with AOL 2.0, and then crapped all over by that happy wal-mart smiley face. then imagine that they make you pay for it.

Re:Censorship

[Lord Kano]

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

Instead of "hiphop" you should have said "Will Smith and Sisqo". Real hip hop is uncensored.

LK

Re:Censorship

[bigman2003]

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

[gcaseye6677]

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.

Re:Censorship

[nelsonal]

If you are willing to settle for syncronous laser diode current controls they have those in hardware next to the sandpaper (Usually Aisle 20 or 21).

Re:Censorship

[HungWeiLo]

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

[The Lynxpro]

"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 them instead of a huge wage-depressing monolith like Wal-Mart.

Then again, I'm a NetFlix subscriber. A majority Windows PC user but favors OS X, and TiVo subscriber. Oh yeah, I own the Xbox too, but that's the only thing Microsoft does right (see Xbox Live)...

Re:Censorship

[callipygian-showsyst]

C'mon now! The Apple store isn't much better if you're out of the demo for Apple products.

There's very little serious music--opera, "Classical", traditional jazz, sacred--to be had there, other than the "top 20"

Re:Censorship

[pilgrim23]

What? No John Tesh?

Re:Censorship

[gUmbi]

Very true. I went to Walmart once. Turns out they don't sell asyncronous laser diode current controls either.

Do you know where they sell those? I need one for my time machine!

Re:Censorship

[MikeXpop]

I don't know personally, but I've got an old flux capacitor you can borrow.

Re:Censorship

[MikeXpop]

First they censored the music
and I did not speak out--
because I did not like music.
Then they censored the movies
and I did not speak out--
because I did not like movies.
Then they censored the video games
and I did not speak out--
because I did not like video games
Then they censored the asyncronous laser diode current controls--
and there was no one was no one left to speak for the asyncronous laser diode current control enthusiests.

Re:Censorship

[shokk]

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

[jonadab]

> mph... '"serious" music...'

Oooh, glad you brought that up...

"Serious music", of course, means polyphony -- true polyphony, not that
half-baked monody stuff everyone's so eager to write these days, but real
polyphony, with multiple independent or interdependent voices, e.g. fugue.

It's hard to take music seriously if all it's got is one melody part and
some supporting harmony parts. That takes, what, two minutes per measure
to write? Lazy bums.

Yeah, go ahead and mod me as Funny, nevermind that I'm actually mostly serious.

...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[Penguinisto]

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?

[KingOfBLASH]

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.

Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[akikage]

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".

Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[mystery_bowler]

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?

[grondu]

From their download site:

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

Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[akintayo]

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

Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[blackmonday]

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 (and likewise blockbuster in movies) a huge influence. Unfortunately, artists have to compromise to get their creations to a massive audience

As an artist, given the choice of making millions or standing up for our creativity, I think you know what most of us would do.

The Internet was supposed to turn the tables on this stuff, unfortunately it's merely propagating more of the same practices. If I'm not on iTunes, and not on walmart's catalog, how will a high school student in Bent Fork, Illinois ever get to hear or buy my record?

Re:...but do they censor the online stuff too?

[dr_dank]

I specifically remember Walmart requiring the song list for Nirvana's In Utero to list the song "Rape Me" as "Waif Me"

I remember that. I hope I'm not the only one who envisioned the sanitized version having Elmer Fudd singing "Wape Me".

Wal-Mart unfair to small websites

[Anonymous Coward]

They build their mega-sized websites and put all the smaller websites in the neighborhood out of business.

Wonderful

[Anonymous Coward]

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...

[franoculator]

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

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Sort of remarkable

[inkswamp]

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

[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!

Re:Sort of remarkable

[afidel]

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.

Re:Sort of remarkable

[jrsimmons]

Keep in mind the probable reason behind this move. Wal-Mart is not looking to make money on these songs. That's why they can offer them for $.88 instead of $.99. They're looking to drive website hits, which in turn drives web revenue through other products.

There are on-going battles with Wal-Mart and the major credit card brands (old article here). They recently stopped allowing customers who use a MasterCard branded debit card to use the card as a credit card (ie, sign the receipt instead of enter a PIN). This fight is much bigger than anything to do with the on-line music sales, in my humble opinion.

Don't expect Wal-Mart to try and take over the on-line music industry. It doesn't fit their model very well. As others have said, the real challenge for Apple will come when the likes of Amazon.com or others with true on-line business models enter the fray. For the store based retailer, it's simply a good way of driving additional customers to the website, where traffic translates into sales.

Re:Sort of remarkable

[Gilgaron]

If you read reviews for mp3 players on places like CNET, you'll see that lots of people use WMA files. I don't, personally, but I can see how some people would because using WMP to rip their CDs is easier than putting up with MusicMatch's artificially slowed ripping in the free version, or playing around with Winamp to make it into an mp3 encoder, before finally getting around to discovering a program like CDex. Lots of mp3 players support WMA, as it is. Mine is RCA's first Lyra and is thusly fairly old, and it can play WMA files just fine.

Re:Sort of remarkable

[Bingo Foo]

No, but perhaps an 11c saving per track will.

given the power that walmart has...

[wankledot]

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.

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[swb]

But they can only push their suppliers so far, because at some point, the supplier goes out of business.

I think suppliers end up cutting their prices to near zero profit margins first, and, if their management has any vision, they start cutting costs related to their products (labor, materials, etc), up to and including moving production overseas. I even think some suppliers get Walmart's assistance from a management perspective.

I think the smart play has been to develop a line of "Walmart" products sold only at Walmart. These are cheaper products, made on contract in $third_world *just* to meet Walmart's pricing, packaging and other needs.

Walmart is a kind of scary/evil force, to be sure.

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[wankledot]

Pretty amazing when you put it in those terms, especially given so many people in the urban centers that don't have a walmart to shop at.

When a family in Kansas makes $50k a year, and 1/3 of that goes to the mortgage, and another 2/3 goes to general household expenses, that's ... .6 * 50... $30k that Walmart has a good shot at getting its hands on. Food, Clothes, Car parts, you name it, Walmart is the logical place to spend your money, they have the best prices.

What that family doens't realize is that walmart is the reason that half the small businesses in their little town are gone, and people are out of work. Of course, walmart will be happy to give you a job at minimum wage with no benefits to replace that job they took away from you. And people eat it up because they have a sale on tube socks today. 12 pair for $2.99!@# The price they pay for low priced products is the loss of small business, loss of jobs, and massive cost-saving consolidation across the entire retail sector in the US. Good for walmart, good for the country, right?

When the supplier goes out of business walmart creates its own store brand and sells that. And that's the stick they can hold above any supplier's head "we'll just make it ourselves." So do you sell at almost a loss to walmart, or lose 1/2 of your sales for the year overnight by standing up to them?

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[Grishnakh]

One big complaint I have against the smaller businesses, however, is that they're never open when I'm not at work. Wal-Mart and other large stores are. Why should I take time off from work just to buy something?

If the smaller shops would stay open reasonable hours, maybe they'd get some business back from the megastores. It's not like they actually have to keep the store open that long, either; they could shift their hours to 11AM-9PM.

This is actually why I try to do as much shopping as I can online; there are no hours of operation there, and I don't have to drive far out of my way.

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[Golias]

If a family in Kansas is making $50K a year, they are not doing it by selling socks at a local small-town boutique.

And why should that family be expected to pay $6 a pair for socks just to keep a local business open? If all you are doing is selling me socks, you shouldn't be making more than minimum wage anyway. Go learn a skill.

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[Infe]

Best point I've heard about Wal-Mart literally, ever. I work night shift so on my off days I go to Wal-Mart 3, 4 in the morning. I don't expect that from local stores, but it's a major reason I shop there. And Wal-Mart can be beat on a lot of their prices, especially computer parts. The other day I wanted a simple USB hub and they wanted $30. Screw that, when I can get them on ebay for under 10 bucks, which is what I did. Computer price points are my main expertise so I'm not sure about other things, but it's hard for me to believe that computer parts are the only thing in Wal-Mart that is a bunch cheaper elsewhere.

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[johnlcallaway]

Give it a rest. I've seen areas where WalMart did drive small companies out of business (South Portland and Biddeford Maine), but they attracted a lot more. I've got news for you, mom and pop stores don't pay much more than Wally World, and they definatley don't have the career possiblities. Scoff if you will, but you can start out a stock person and move up into management in a few years then get a job for somebody else. Of course not everyone can, but then not everyone moves into management in any company. You don't even have that choice in an overpriced mom and pop store, once a clerk always a clerk

We may whine about the death of the inner city, but is that really where we want business to be?? To have people drive several miles through traffic laden streets into a downtown area? Better that they are in the suburbs close to where people live, and where other service oriented businesses can thrive.

Times are changing, if those mom and pop businesses can't change and compete, bye-bye....

Re:given the power that walmart has...

[nolife]

What that family doens't realize is that walmart is the reason that half the small businesses in their little town are gone, and people are out of work.

Walmart puts no one out of business, the shoppers that stop going to the little stores does. People can and do choose what store they want to buy from. People choose Walmart over the small stores because of the prices, the hours, the convienence and the selection and who know what else. The people are voting with the dollar. You did not specifically mention it but I've heard an arguement that Walmart lowers prices until local businesses are gone, then raise them. That is complete bull. Walmart has the same prices over an entire geographical region, a car battery costs $39.95 in Charleston SC, Charleston WV, Pittsburgh PA, and Reading PA. Same with apple juice and underwear. You think they are going to raise the price in all of those areas when "Joes Battery shop" in Pittsburgh finally goes under?

Define "exclusive artists" Please?

[Pro_Piracy_Guy]

...other than the addition of exclusive artists.

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

Price wars!!!

[FreeLinux]

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???

Woohoo!

[Anonymous Coward]

DRM'd AND censored! Now that's how I like my music... limited and g-rated.

Huh?

[grub]

How will WalMart attach RFID tags to downloaded songs?

Oh, wonderful!

[Scoria]

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...

[The I Shing]

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?

[thebra]

But will I be able to return the song if I don't like it?

Failure!

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

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.

Re:Failure!

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

I know, I'm responding to myself. But here are some direct links for the lazy (like me), since I've allready been there.

Usage and License Rules

Terms of Service

God, why would I want to sign up for this, when there are so many other, easier, and less draconian options.

Wow - look at the usage policy

[IamGarageGuy 2]

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.

Re:An update on Walmart's online music store

[scumbucket]

I can't wait to buy Slim Whitman and Zamphir: Master of the Pan Flute songs over the internet at Wal-Mart!

And I'll be first in line when the new album 'Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sings the Blues' goes on sale!

My prediction?

[Aslan72]

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?

[Chris Tucker]

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

[computerme]

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...

Re:SO let me get this straight

[skinny.net]

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.

Re:SO let me get this straight

[foniksonik]

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

[YrWrstNtmr]

b) i get to use some handcuff microsoft monoply DRM schema instead of the aptly named "Fairplay" DRM from itunes.

[from Walmart]
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]
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

[Lizard_King]

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.

Re:SO let me get this straight

[Blondie-Wan]

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).

Price no 99 cents

[TechKiller-Jam]

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.

Re:Price no 99 cents

[pegr]

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?

Who can tell me...

[jvollmer]

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!

That's not that only reason you won't find music

[qortra]

Regardless of whether or not they censor albums, they will have, at best, the same meager ridiculous selection that every other service has.

Every time a new legal online-music appears, I take a look for the music that I like to listen to (Failure, Sneaker Pimps, etc; check my audioscrobbler if you're curious). Granted, they aren't exactly mainstream pop, but they aren't that uncommon. I still haven't found a service that reliably has some of those lesser-known artists (I just checked Wal-Mart's site, and they are no exception). If I'm going to do online music, then the selection had better be about as good as Amazon's.

is there a NON WMA based service?

[enrico_suave]

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.

Re:is there a NON WMA based service?

[molarmass192]

The best one I've found is AllOfMP3. 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 letter" legality of it. Most of the arguments I've heard is that the RIAA tried to shut them down but lost the case in the Russian court system. Those issues aside, the selection is pretty good but it's definitely more Top 40 stuff. The biggest plus is that there are a lot of international artists that we would only have access to through expensive "imports" state-side.

As I've said at the original launch

[Anita Coney]

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

[Archalien]

Its kind of weird how I haven't heard anything yet about Amazon's Music service.

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:

[Anonymous Coward]

$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? Huh?

[StateOfTheUnion]

Exclusive Artists?

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

Not really 88 cents per track...

[koganuts]

I find it rather amusing that according to this website, 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 and counting. :)

William Hung

[BMonger]

Until you have William Hung as an exclusive artist you might as well hold off on opening the music store. He's the only money maker out there.

Walmart's Power

[D-Fly]

The LA Times did an excellent series on Walmart's
negative effects on US manufacturers, overseas suppliers, its own workers, and the US economy 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 last year in the scramble for a cheap dvd player) is Fast Company's analysis of the company's effect on US manfacturers.

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.

Re:Walmart's Power

[llj555]

Except that the woman in the DVD incident was a "frequent faller." She had nine "accidents" in Wal-Mart stores, and has filed personal injury suits against six stores. From Gizmodo.

Re:Walmart's Power

[nelsonal]

It's sort of a chicken and egg problem. Walmart sells cheap crap because the masses want it (American's are notoriously short sighted) we buy new clothing every year, Europeans tend to buy 1 or 2 really nice things to add to their wardrobe each year. Wal~Mart's big secret isn't so much that they decided to sell a bunch of cheap crap it's that they were better able to capture their retail sales data into useful decision making info. I think the fast company article (might have been a businessweek article from about the same time on WalMart) mentioned that the company dropped the buy American campaign when they found that in many cases two widgets would be sold one made in China might cost 5%-10% less than the Made in the USA one, and sales were considerably lower.
Another big thing is that Wal~Mart does do a better job of ensuring that things they need are there all the time. A big part of that is they let people in the store monitor and order additional (they also give them years of weekly data on how each of their SKUs sold for the upcoming week. A friend works at Safeway and stuff arrives in Montana as shipped from Seattle with no input to Montana's desires or thoughts. There are many examples of things like this which start to explain why Walmart did so well initally.
I have no good answers as two why Americans love Wal~Mart so much. Take food for example, their produce looks awful, and generally rots much faster than the same bought at a traditional grocer. Also the offer significantly lower selection of brands within a product category. Safeway might have 10 brands and 30 varieties of maple syrup walmart carries 3 and 8. I prefer the added selection and quality and do my shopping at safeway. Well that and I get tired of the wild kids and long lines at walmart. But it seems that others don't have the same preference set.

Absolutely Fascinating!!

[sniepre]

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

[nattt]

"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?

Re:Sample song works on a mac

[FlashBIOS]

The song you downloaded was not protected with any DRM. That's why it worked. But buy a song (which has DRM) and you'll see that MPlayer isn't so magical anymore.

Re:Sample song works on a mac

[Umrick]

The sample songs are not DRM'd. It wouldn't be until you actually bought a song you'd find out it wouldn't work.

Re:Music Dumping

[shark72]

"At what point does the lowering of the price of downloadable music approaching the practice of dumping? Similar to what the USA constantly accuses foreign memory chip or timber companies of doing? Is wal-mart using its monolopy on low end merchandise to sibsidize its entry into the music business to the detriment of competition?"

When Wal-Mart started doing this with CDs in the stores, the record companies came to the aid of specialty retailers like Tower Records by giving them co-op advertising money in exchange for doing MAPs. Wal-Mart complained to the government, the government told the record companies to stop doing it, and Slashdotters cheered. Tower Records, which provides a higher selection of uncensored music but simply cannot compete with Wal-Mart on pricing, subsequently filed for bankrupcty.

Seems to me that Wal-Mart's predatory pricing should make them heros to the typical Slashdotter.

Interesting privacy policy...

[igrp]

What I personally find even more interesting is Walmart's TOS (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 with any part of this Agreement (including but not limited to WALMART.COM's right to cooperate with any legal process relating to your use of the Service and/or Products, and/or a third party claim that your use of the Service and/or Products is unlawful and/or infringes such third party's rights).
(emphasis added)

Interesting (in essence, that's "we can pretty much do whatever we damn well please with the data we connect about you and you can't do a thing about it")...

TERRIFYING DOWNSIDE

[StefanJ]

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?

Encrypted WMAs is not what I need.

[Quebec]

Encrypted WMAs do not work on my linux box
Encrypted WMAs do not work on my personal MP3 CD player
Encrypted WMAs do not work on my MP3 CD Player in the living room.

If I need MP3 why are they keeping trying to sell something else?

Most of the music industry hates the MP3 standard because they cannot count each time a song is listened to with it, they have rights over copying and they want to count each time a song is copied from a medium to ram for play. This is ridicoulous. To stay in business they want to difform the spirit of an old law.

At least they understand at warp records:
http://www.warprecords.com/bleep/

Re:Hardware

[Golias]

Hardware stores are a different animal entirely. Here in Bloomington, MN (the big suburb where the Mall of America is) there are both a Menards and a Home Depot in easy driving distance. Most of the people I know still go to one of several smaller stores most of the time, even for big purchases. Why? Not out of some profound respect for the "neighborhood store", but because hardware is one of the few examples of where a small company can provide added service that the big chains don't do very well. Yea, I pay an extra $10 if I buy a drill there, but next time I need to buy one screw of a specific size, I can get one from them for a few cents instead of paying $4 for a box of them that I don't want to keep around.

Everybody who buys a lot of hardware knows this (especially professional contractors, who have relationships with those stores), so your little Concord hardware store is in no danger of going away, as long as their service excels.

Commodities like clothing, food, drugs, etc., nobody gives a crap where they buy it as long as it's cheap. A small store adds little or no value. In fact, when it comes to food, a massive supermarket like Cub or Rainbow is more likely to have high-quality produce that's at the peak of freshness, because they turn around their inventory so much more quickly.

Wal-Mart brought the fantastic benifits of "economy of scale" that we city-dwellers have always enjoyed to small hick towns which used to have to pay a premium for everything, and that's why several of the richest 10 people in America are from the Walton family.

so who is Wal*Mart screwing?

[The Lynxpro]

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?

Russian All-You-Can-Eat MP3/Ogg Stores

[meehawl]

All hail FatWallet:

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

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
Unusual emphasis on hard rock and metal acts (east European and Russian youth apparently worship metal acts)

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

[amichalo]

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.