Wal-Mart Music Downloads - Review
 |
Price per Month | N/A | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per Song | $0.88 | ||
| Size of Library | 1 million songs | ||
| Operating Systems | Windows 2000 and XP | ||
| File Format | WMA | ||
| File Quality | 128 kbps | ||
| Portable Devices | Players that support WMA. Not compatible with iPod. | ||
| Available In | United States |
Wal-Mart’s music service is the third largest in the pay-per-song category, behind iTunes and Napster. True to their philosophy of low prices, they offer songs at the low price of $0.88 per song. You only pay for the songs you want, there is no monthly fee and the songs that you purchase are yours to keep. There is however some restrictions on what you can do with the songs: you can only play them on Windows compatible computers and portable devices that support WMA (no Macs, no iPods). These restrictions are common to most of their competitors, e.g. BuyMusic, MSN Music.
The library of 1 million songs is among the smaller in the industry; you will find mostly mainstream music here. But if the song you’re looking for is available at Wal-Mart for $0.88 instead of $0.99 at a competitor, then why not save some money? Use the search function below to find your favorite music.
Positives
- $0.88 is among the lowest price per track available. The common price level in the industry is $0.99.
Negatives
- The web site only supports IE.
- Purchased music is encrypted and governed by the DRM of Windows Media Player.
- Only works with Windows.
- Limited music selection: Mostly mainstream music and no “explicit” lyrics.
What can you do with your downloaded music?
- Download the music to one computer and transfer music to two additional computers.
- Make ten burns to a CD. You must use Windows Media Player to burn CDs and if you try to burn a song more than 10 times Windows Media Player will refuse. CDs that you burn are playable in any regular CD player.
- Make unlimited transfers to a portable device.
Lawrence Lessig analyzed Wal-Mart’s terms of service back in 2003 and considered them to be among the most restrictive in the business. If you plan to use music you buy from Wal-Mart Music Downloads as an audio track for your home movies or computer slideshows, you can’t according to the TOS.
Portable Players
You can transfer the music you have downloaded to your portable player as long as the player is able to play WMA files encrypted with DRM. If your MP3 player has the PlaysForSure logo, it’s pretty sure to be compatible. You can also check Wal-Mart’s selection of MP3 Players to see if your player is listed. Those compatible with Wal-Mart Music Downloads include the following sentence in the description: “This WMA (Windows Media Audio) compatible player will work with Wal-Mart Music Downloads.”
As noted above, iPods are not compatible with this service.
Search
Search Wal-Mart Music Downloads to see if they have your favorite music: