88 cents a song. Good thing? Maybe...

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Here's the article:



http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2003/mf...ln001999&npu=y



"Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) began testing its online music store today, offering up songs for $0.88 a pop. It will officially launch its download store in 2004, after seeing exactly what customers respond to -- and what they don't -- in the preliminary version. "



So, the rule is, competition is good and it drives down prices. When it comes to Wal-Mart, however, maybe that rule should be waived. They're entering the digital music sales world with a loss-leader strategy, and though that might have immediate fairly good effects, it may spell bad news for the industry as a whole. Another thing: why? What do they get out of it?



And as far as Apple is concerned: Steve Jobs just announced no plans to lower prices on the iTunes music store - there's another thread on that around here somewhere. Is this hubris? Can a better overall offering really offset a ten-percent discount somewhere else? I love my local stores, their atmosphere is great and I just enjoy the experience, but their parking lots are empty and Wal-Mart's are full.



Hmmmmm.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 40
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Malokata

    They're entering the digital music sales world with a loss-leader strategy, and though that might have immediate fairly good effects, it may spell bad news for the industry as a whole. Another thing: why? What do they get out of it?





    I have no idea what Wal-Mart would get out of having an online music business. If they're entering it as a loss-leader for big ticket items, I could see it. But does wally-world even sell decent audio players? And Wal-Mart is too uncool to get any sort of traction with the kids. 11¢ is not enough to sway people to shop there. I know I wouldn't.
  • Reply 2 of 40
    I was under the impression the theyw ere going to be heavy on country music. In any event, like all the other wannabes, the Wal-Mart site does not have the ease of use of iTunes. Napster, Buy.com etc. have entered the fray and are not impacting on iTMS at the moment. Give Wal-Mart 8 months and they'll exit in my opinion. We'll see.
  • Reply 3 of 40
    Well, this is all well and fine. But, seriously, how much money are we talking about?



    If you buy 100 songs, and save 11 cents each, you've saved $11. Nice, but nothing to write home about.



    When you get to 49 a song, which, if the numbers are to be believed, would be selling at a SIGNIFICANT loss, that same 100 songs? Now you are up to a $50 savings. Now it gets more interesting.



    Then you have to look at time. Are you buying a 100 songs a month or 100 songs a year? It makes a bit of a difference in how much the saving means to you. Saving $50 over 1 year...probably not terribly significant to a lot of people. $50 per month is another issue. But, then if you are spending that kind of money, you are probably pretty serious about music and would rather have the "real" thing (iPod, iTunes and AAC).



    Just guessing here.
  • Reply 4 of 40
    For me, it's all about selection, and that's precisely why I don't use online music stores.



    The selection sucks. A trip to Best Buy or PREX is a much more fruitful endeavor. . . plus I get a CD and the accompanying materials. As it is, though, iTMS supposedly has the best selection. That's huge.



    Of course, since a lot of the music I listen to is based on fairly long songs/pieces, I could theoretically do pretty well at iTMS. . . $6 for a full album? Cool.
  • Reply 5 of 40
    Selection is important. Ican't wait to hear Apple tell us they've hit 1 million songs available on iTMS. Wow!



    The physical materials mean little to me. As long as the album art comes with the downloaded song (well, lyrics might be nice too...listening Apple?)...I'm fine.



    The one thing that iTMS gives me that I don't have at a normal music store (well, aside from the a la carte track purchase...I LOVE that!)...search. While searching can be improved (and it undoubtedly will be)...it is powerful. I can find in seconds what might take me 20 minutes of browsing in a music store. Oh, yeah, I also won't go deaf listening to the obnoxiously loud music being played in most of those stores.



    Plus I can also browse. Plus Apple tells me (if I care to pay attention) about new music available.



    Overall, Apple has put together a pretty compelling value-proposition in their iTMS/iTunes/iPod suite.
  • Reply 6 of 40
    the iTMS selection is surprisingly good, in some areas.



    Many times I have found an obscure band or artist that I would have never expected to see there, but also, equally, I have NOT found obscure artists that I would have liked to see there.



    also there are definitely huge holes.



    no zappa???!

    no tool

    no beatles

    ...etc



    but, I'm sure that will change eventually, all this music downloading stuff is infantile right now, it's got a ways to grow.
  • Reply 7 of 40
    I too heard that Walmart will have Country as a hefty chunk of their catalogue. I imagine there will also be a lot of Gospel and the like. They are not going after the hipsters they are going after their demographic. I don't know what Walmart could offer to up-sell people once they are downloading from their store. I'm sure it's their standard strategy of selling at a lose to crush their competition. I just can't figure out who the hell they're competing with.
  • Reply 8 of 40
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    More Chinese people would buy 88 cent songs.
  • Reply 9 of 40
    ps5533ps5533 Posts: 476member
    ugh this sucks wal-mart should F*** them selves into poverty i hate them and their rollback this save on that. let other businesses sell what they want and don't seal it!!!
  • Reply 10 of 40
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    More Chinese people would buy 88 cent songs.



    I'm Chinese.. however.. I never shop at Wal-Mart... my dad said Wal-Mart stuff are cheap and poor quality.
  • Reply 11 of 40




    make it $1.68
  • Reply 12 of 40
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    Actually, 99 is almost as lucky a number as 88, especially when dealing with currency.



    Almost. That's why the Asian supermarket chain here is called 99 Ranch. I'd still rank 8 better than 3 better than 9 in terms of common belief.
  • Reply 13 of 40
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    More Chinese people would buy 88 cent songs.



    True and Flase. Chinese from the Mainland China are generally very f****** cheap but Chineses from HK and Taiwan and Singapore aren't.



    Just to point you out that there are sites providing membership service for people to download unlimited number of songs (Mandarin, Taiwaness, Cantonese)



    One of those sites:



    boxup.com



    People pay annual fee of 80 CDN and you are able to download virtually UNLIMITED of UNRESTRICTED MP3 songs. And their selection is HUGE.



    Too bad I don't listen to Chinese songs, but my brother does and he download songs from this site everyday.
  • Reply 14 of 40
    stunnedstunned Posts: 1,096member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Leonis

    True and Flase. Chinese from the Mainland China are generally very f****** cheap but Chineses from HK and Taiwan and Singapore aren't.



    Just to point you out that there are sites providing membership service for people to download unlimited number of songs (Mandarin, Taiwaness, Cantonese)



    One of those sites:



    boxup.com



    People pay annual fee of 80 CDN and you are able to download virtually UNLIMITED of UNRESTRICTED MP3 songs. And their selection is HUGE.



    Too bad I don't listen to Chinese songs, but my brother does and he download songs from this site everyday.




    Being a Singaporean, I agree completly. We are not that cheapskate. 11 cents will hardly make a difference to me and most of my friends. 88 may be a lucky number in Chinese, but its hardly a motivation for most Chinese to buy from Walmart...



    The problem now is that iTunes is still not available here in Asia.

    And if walmart can get its music service available to Asia, Apple got a tough fight. Its is clear that first mover advantage in this kind of service pays big dividends.
  • Reply 15 of 40
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    It was a joke, people. Stupid Asians.
  • Reply 16 of 40
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    I had to reinstall system software on my computer. After restoring the music files, I found that they wouldn't play. What should I do?



    You restored the music files but did not restore the license files that are required to play the music. You will need to contact one of our Customer Service associates by sending an email to [email protected], or by calling 1-800-222-8132 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (CT), 7 days a week. They will determine if it is possible to restore the license file.





    I bought a new computer. Can I transfer music downloads from Walmart.com to this new computer?



    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 (or on any other device that plays audio CDs) you must burn your music onto an audio CD to play it (please note that you may burn a song to a CD up to 10 times).





    How many days do I have to play a song for the first time after I purchase it?



    You must play a song within 120 days of purchase. After 120 days, the license file that is required to play the song will no longer be available. After you play the song for the first time, you will be able to play it any time thereafter.
  • Reply 17 of 40
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    So I went to the site and it looks alot like the buymusic.com site. And for some albums, I can save a WHOOPING $.55! Wow. Who on earth would do that? I just don't understand why someone would use another service at this point in time. I LOVE just clicking in the iTMS, going from artist to popular downloads to previews to flirting with the "buy song" button. Wal-mart's site just doesn't do it for me. I'm looking forward to getting my iTMS GC for xmas. It will be fun.
  • Reply 18 of 40
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Bleh. Just bad navigation in general... and to sort results by anything requires a screen refresh I assume... rather than just clicking on a column and sorting instantly.



    Have fun losing money Wal-Mart (at least they can afford to do it).
  • Reply 19 of 40
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    Bleh. Just bad navigation in general... and to sort results by anything requires a screen refresh I assume... rather than just clicking on a column and sorting instantly.



    Have fun losing money Wal-Mart (at least they can afford to do it).




    "Track unavailable" WTF??? Why even show it if you can't buy it? The more I look at some of the other music sites, the more I realize a web-browser isn't the place to buy this sort of thing. Apple, Napster and Musicmatch are the only 3 of the bunch that have it right in that respect. Apple's going to win this fight, despite being slightly more expensive than some.
  • Reply 20 of 40
    At any rate, you can tell it's a Windows service:



    "The music you download is virus-free and safe for your computer."



    (from "The Benefits of Music Downloads")
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