By RON HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Wednesday, December 31, 2003 · Last updated 10:40 a.m. PT

SAN FRANCISCO -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s foray into downloadable music sales is a respectable effort. The song selection is decent, though pesky playback restrictions and a few online kinks sound a few false notes.

In launching its music service, Wal-Mart enters a world ruled by Apple Computer Inc., purveyor of the iTunes online song service and the iPod music players. The landscape is thick with iPods waiting for tunes.

So while Wal-Mart's price is right - songs for 88 cents apiece - it's only for PC users equipped with Windows 98 or better. There's no support for Apple or Linux machines.

For your 88 cents you'll get a file in the Windows Media Audio format, stuffed with some license requirement verification that "phones home" to make sure you're the authorized listener who has rightfully purchased the tunes. You can also buy a complete album for $9.44. That's cheaper by 11 cents per song and half a buck per album than iTunes and competitors MusicMatch and Napster, both of which, like Wal-Mart, use the WMA format.

Getting started is easy enough. Go to Walmart.com and click the "Movies & Music" tab and then the music downloads link on the next page.

You can search Wal-Mart's database of songs by artist, album or song title. The 80,000-CD catalog is thick with country, rap and pop, but thin around the edges. There doesn't appear to be much classical at all; my search for Mozart and Beethoven came up empty.

That said, there is lots of Nelly, Britney and Beyonce.

After setting up an account with a user name, password and credit card number, I was ready to shop.

I liked Spears' latest ditty with Madonna, "Me Against the Music," and it was available so I started my speedy DSL download. In less than 30 seconds I got my song file and it was ready to play.

The sound quality of the files is good, 128 kilobits per second. That's not near the digital detail of a store-bought CD, but good enough for the average music fan.

The top 100 downloads listed by Wal-Mart reads like a who's who of pop music. But kids looking for surly rap tunes laden with profanities are out of luck here. Only clean, edited version of such songs are available. I counted 14 tracks among Wal-Mart's top 100 that came "clean" instead of the "dirty" album versions, including Murphy Lee's "Shake Ya Tailfeather" and Staind's "So Far Away."

There are limitations to what you can do with your downloaded music. Wal-Mart allows you to download the songs to only three different computers. I downloaded some songs at an office computer, and had to re-download them at home (at no additional charge).

Wal-Mart also limits to 10 the number of times you can burn the original downloads to a CD. However, I was easily able to burn four purchased downloads to a blank CD, then rip the songs to the MP3 format and convert them to "wav" files and do whatever I wanted with them - on a multitude of devices.

Here's one catch that bugged me. The songs I listened to at work would not play initially after I downloaded them again at home. I had to call Wal-Mart's toll-free customer service number and have the license reactivated for that song for my second computer.

If I had a third computer, I'd have to call again.

There has to be a way to automate that process. Consumers are going to expect more consistency and ease of use.

Another complaint is the 30-second song preview feature. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.

Wal-Mart says its music service "is in beta." There was a time when "beta" meant a product or project was strictly in test mode, but Wal-Mart is taking hard-earned customer cash during its "beta" period.

Link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Tech+Test+Wal+Mart+Music

Sounds like he likes it rather than calling it a flop. Misleading headline there. But anyhow the only people who profit from these 'services' are the RIAA so no way am I buying.

88 cents for a 128 bit song is no god send. Sounds like cheap crap to me. I dont see much future in it. Wallmart never does good things with electronics.

Congrats, you wasted a buck per song on something that is made for free, in a format that has even less quality then the one that is in dispute. Excuse me, but if you're going to leave mp3s alone for 3 years then start bitching about the quality, you better sell THAT quality or BETTER, not something WORSE.

Anybody who knowingly continues to shop at Wal-Mart must realize they are shamefully contributing to the outsourcing of labor at the lowest common denominator, and the lowering of working standards for workers everywhere.

How much more god-damn money does the Walton family need to extract from everybody before they're satisfied?

This is NOT capitalism. It is predatory thuggery.

"but Wal-Mart is taking hard-earned customer cash during its "beta" period."

Lessons learned from Microsoft...

I'm also with fjones in noticing the "inferior" sound of a 128k file is now "good enough for the average music fan".

Which is why the average music fan is on Kazaa.

And I forgot to rail against the "Walmart Morality" aka retail censorship.

their service does nothing for those of us who doesn't like britney and would rather listen to the groups from times past. Also I'd like to second everyones opinion about Walmarts morality. Having worked for them in a management training mode I get sick everytime I see one of their commercials.

Our Walmart here in Coos Bay Oregon just went as a super center and the parking lot is always full. and if you know Coos Bay that's a real feat for any business. So enough people in this country still buy into their crap and think their prices are lower over all. they're not.

sounds like their music service is just a digital extension of what's already on their racks

I don't care who's selling it... I wouldn't waste ANY money on a 128kbs song! That's like taking your 35mm camera and shooting a couple hundred pictures of a movie and trying to sell it, 128 just sounds really flat and 2 dimensional.

128 isnt flat and 2-d... i've ran it through all sorts of systems from boom boxes to headphones to Bose systems and they all sound just fine.

Try turning up the frequencies around 10- 20 KHz, you will notice a “warbling” noise on the highs.

Also places where the highs are removed to compress the data.

stuffed with some license requirement verification that "phones home" to make sure you're the authorized listener who has rightfully purchased the tunes.

Yea like I would buy any thing with this on it, and most important buy music from walmart?? They have all their cd censord so for me to buy a "clean" version from walmart they can keep their product, I dont want it.

Also places where the highs are removed to compress the data.

And dont forget how much bottom end you lose as well, compare any 128 mp3 to a wave file and there is a huge differance.

Let's see here...
1. WMA format? My walkman plays mp3, it isn't equipped to play WMA.

2. "The 80,000-CD catalog is thick with country, rap and pop, but thin around the edges."
I listen mostly to classic rock & 80's heavy metal. I guess that means they're not really offering anything I'd want to buy. I can find more classic rock & 80's metal than I know what to do with on p2p.

3. Censored versions only? Let me point out how hypocritical and inconsistent Wal-Mart's policies are by stating that you can buy many movies on dvd there that are NOT censored, movies like Cheech & Chong, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Jason X, South Park, I think you all get the picture. The cash register reads them as being R rated movies and asks for ID to show proof of age. I have no problem with that, but what's the difference if they're going to sell me an uncut R movie or a CD with a parental advisory label. They can do the same thing with CD's (check ID) but instead they opt to apply a different standard to the same issue (inappropriate content) and tell me as a free thinking adult that they aren't going to give me the right to think freely.

I could go on some more about the problems I have with Wal-Mart's service, this is just the tip of the list, but what's the point? They've already got 3 strikes, they're out!

I certainly do not recommend any of these "legit" sites.

If you want to spend money on a DRM infested download, It is your dollar. Just don't ask my dollar to join yours.

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

"I was easily able to burn four purchased downloads to a blank CD, then rip the songs to the MP3 format and convert them to "wav" files and do whatever I wanted with them - on a multitude of devices."

Now what was that that everyone keeps saying about digital content sercurity measures?

It just shows you how stupid these services really are Litheon.

I mean by that DRM, and other so called "copy proof" schemes.

He didn't like the service, but he isn't going to just totally dismiss it.

:-:~ Phantom