Entered CNET Catalog: 06/03/2004
SKU: SERVWALMARTMUSICDOWNLOADS
Manufacturer: Walmart.com
Product summary
The good: Cheap and easy to use; wide selection (albeit manistream); Web-based interface.
The bad: Doesn't work with Macs; limited selection of independent labels; requires Windows Media Player.
The bottom line: Wal-Mart's Music Downloads is the cheapest place for Windows users to purchase tunes online; just be prepared to find mostly mainstream music.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 06/09/2004
Wal-Mart's Music Downloads service sprang onto the online music scene this year, offering songs for a comparatively cheap 88 cents a pop and quickly becoming a hit with users (a recent NPD Group study ranked it second, behind Napster). As with other stores offering music à la carte, you won't need to sign up for any long-term commitment; you can buy individual songs or albums whenever you have the urge.
Getting started with Wal-Mart's Music Downloads is a simple matter of pointing your browser to the Web site, choosing the songs you want, and putting them in your cart. You won't need to download any software, but you must have Windows Media Player 9.0 to play purchased music or transfer it to a CD or a supported MP3 player. (You also must have Windows 98 SE or later--Mac and Linux aren't supported.) When you're ready to buy tunes for the first time, you'll be prompted to set up an account, which takes just a few minutes. Thereafter, you can simply check out and begin downloading immediately; your purchases are automatically charged to your credit card.
Navigating Wal-Mart Music Downloads couldn't be easier. The main Music Downloads page features search boxes for artist, song, and album and provides links for certain preset searches (for example, Top 100 Downloads and Wal-Mart Exclusives). You'll also find links to premade playlists, such as Workout Mix and Stars and Stripes. The search function serves up a well-organized list of matching items. Searches are generally fruitful for mainstream music, less so for independent labels. Compared to the 700,000 tracks that Apple iTunes offers in its catalog as of this writing, Wal-Mart's 300,000-song repertoire seems piddling.
Wal-Mart's music-usage terms are pretty standard, and unlike BuyMusic.com's, they are the same for all songs. You can store and play music an unlimited number of times on up to three PCs and transfer songs as many times as you want to portable devices that can play protected WMA files. We transferred an album we'd purchased to our Cowon iAudio 4 without a hitch. A Wal-Mart rep assured us that you can deauthorize a computer if you decide to upgrade, as long as you have backed up the song and its license on a secondary computer, a portable device, or a CD. Burns to the latter are limited to 10 for each tune.
We found Wal-Mart's Music Downloads customer support more than sufficient. In addition to an extensive FAQ section, the company offers 24/7 toll-free phone support. E-mail questions are answered swiftly--we received a response in less than an hour using an anonymous address.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18out of 18 user reviews
song I got not the same as 30-sec sample
Pros: It is the singer..
Cons: but a crummy recording
Updated on Sep 3, 2009also the Maria Muldaur, "Midnight at the Oasis" is just "not the same".
out of 18 user reviews
No rights to the music I purchased!! DRM to extreme.
Pros: Nothing good to say.
Cons: Bad customer service. I purchased many songs only to find that once i downloaded them to my old computer they were unusable on any other computer or device.
This music service works great if you use the same computer for all that you do and never plan to upgrade your computer. Beware, if you change your computer your songs become unusable. What a horrible waste of my time, effort and money! Use other music services without DRM.
out of 18 user reviews
Too much of a hassle and no support
Pros: price is good, quality is excellent, selection is good
Cons: I have to download and install their downloader every time I want to make a purchase. My system or theirs does not recognize the installation. No way to download without it, I've tried, too much of a hassle. Just go back to Amazon and pay a buck.
out of 18 user reviews
Use ONLY if you want TEMPORARY music!!!
Pros: initially less $ than Napster
Cons: In the end, the license will expire and you'll have to re-purchase the same music!
Also, the clip you hear may not be the same version as the one you download (ie: radio version or acapella)...they will NOT reimburse you for their own mistake when you get music other than what you expected to receive based on the clip/description!
So, basically the Wal-Mart music service is a complete WASTE of money...stick to Napster, at least you get what you pay for...you own the song once you buy it. With Wal-Mart you "rent" it, and then it's gone.
out of 18 user reviews
Beware the moral police
Pros: Pretty cheap, easy enough on PC
Cons: CENSORSHIP, bad customer service
I then downloaded a single song with the words "(editted)" at the end of the title, but I didn't think much of it. The song had some lyrics that are not for everyone. Walmart has decided that they are not for anyone. Half of the song is muffled out. I contacted customer service to notify them of my dissatisfaction. I simply asked for a credit of 88cents and/or the changing of the word "editted" to "censored" in their listing. What I got instead was a copy of their policy. While I have no legal ground to stand on, I thought that my requests were reasonable enough to warrant some action. I wlll no longer use this service.
out of 18 user reviews
Great for a DRM service
Pros: Cheap, embedded into WMP
Cons: DRM!!!!!!!!
In closing, walmart is a good, cheap basic DRM downloading service.
out of 18 user reviews
Great but could be better
Pros: Cheap price and great customer service
Cons: Editied songs
After a hard-drive failure I had to transfer all my music from a portable hard-drive to the new hard drive that dell sent me. So I try playing some music while installing everything. 46 songs don't work! After 6 calls to Wal-mart 23 of them still don't work.
Why? Because I bought them in 2004 and now their new sever update won't let them access the songs. They may never be available again! They told me to rip them off the CDs that I made of them [which isn't a lot due to the 10 burn limit] or repurchase them! Thats $20.24
USD. Screw you Wal-mart; I've learned my lesson.
out of 18 user reviews
Not that great!
Pros: Cheap Price
Cons: Good old songs removed, Sample not always same as DL version level/db
The other thing is that I hate looking for oldies, only to find out that they want you to buy the whole album instead. Wasn't that the purpose of individual downloads.
Another thing, not all songs are noted as having been edited. And you may not know that from the 30sec clip that is played.
Lastly, the shopping cart, well atleast 6months ago, only last for 5 days or a week. I hated getting my shopping cart built up, only to have lost it by payday.
But at 88cents, who's complaining!!!
out of 18 user reviews
Superb!!!!!
Pros: Great price and great service.
Cons: I could find no fault in their downloads.
out of 18 user reviews
BEWARE - Stay away - took 4 hours to transfer to MP3
Pros: Cheap download to your pc
Cons: dont plan on it leaving your pc
out of 18 user reviews
Protected music makes transferring files difficult
Pros: Cheap, legitimate music download
Cons: Protected music
out of 18 user reviews
Easy, low-cost, excellent, you cannot go wrong
Pros: Easy, pleasant, low-cost, wide variety of music (even if much of it is so-called "mainstream")
Cons: Yes, mostly (but not entirely) "mainstream" music, but for the most part that's hardly a drawback
out of 18 user reviews
GREAT! I love my WalMart Music Downloads!
Pros: No software to install, songs play great, lax DRM rules, Great Selection of music.
Cons: Selection 9/10, could help it to have some more of the current hits. Usually has hits from a year or more plus current hits from select labels.
BMR777
www.rusnakweb.com
out of 18 user reviews
Horrible Very Difficult
Pros: None that i have found
Cons: i bought 1 song i and i don't understand this horrible system of licenses
out of 18 user reviews
My Main Online Music Source!
Pros: 88 cents compared to 99 cents for at places, easy to use, good sound quality
Cons: selection is okay, but not the best, only 10 burns a song
out of 18 user reviews
Windows media player is crap and so is their drm
Pros: legal, relatively cheap songs, nothing extra to download
Cons: i want better than 128 kbps bit rate, drm is so frustrating
out of 18 user reviews
Good for individual tracks
Pros: Low price; fair selection of current tunes
Cons: Album prices can be higher than other sites
out of 18 user reviews
InstallShield cannot be automatically uninstalled
Pros: Cheap, easy to use, responsive customer support
Cons: InstallShield, license transfers
I was also unable to transfer music licenses for songs downloaded on an XP machine to a W98SE machine. I could go from W98SE to XP but not the other direction.
Customer service was polite and responsive although they could not find solutions to the two problems above.
