It seems as if everyone is trying to knock the wind out of iTunes nowadays. A few weeks back, Universal Music Group decided it was going to offer up DRM-free tracks to various services, including Walmart, but refused to offer the same service through iTunes.
Walmart seems to have taken that ball and run with it by offering DRM-free music from various studios for 94 cents.
That's 5 cents less then a regular iTunes track and 35 cents less then an iTunes Plus track. Walmart tracks will be available in either MP3 or WMA formats with WMA tracks costing 88 cents apiece.
Current top-sellers of the new service include Fergie, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, and many more but expect a larger vaiety of music as the service grows.
Right now, it's unclear what method Walmart will use to track piracy of its DRM-free tunes. Universal uses an inaudible watermark method that will allow the company to scan P2P networks to see how many of the songs contain the watermark, but it doesn't contain enough data to track the pirated music back to an originating source.
This is a great move for those who download loads of music legally, but it still seems as if the price is a bit too high still. Even though the music is DRM-free, you can go out and buy the CD version of the album for nearly the same price and get better quality music and more for your money.
Which service do you use to download your legal music? Maybe you're still waiting for prices to drop on music tracks before you take the plunge into going digital-only. Let us know where you stand in the comments below or over in the forums.
Walmart seems to have taken that ball and run with it by offering DRM-free music from various studios for 94 cents.
That's 5 cents less then a regular iTunes track and 35 cents less then an iTunes Plus track. Walmart tracks will be available in either MP3 or WMA formats with WMA tracks costing 88 cents apiece.
Current top-sellers of the new service include Fergie, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, and many more but expect a larger vaiety of music as the service grows.
Right now, it's unclear what method Walmart will use to track piracy of its DRM-free tunes. Universal uses an inaudible watermark method that will allow the company to scan P2P networks to see how many of the songs contain the watermark, but it doesn't contain enough data to track the pirated music back to an originating source.
This is a great move for those who download loads of music legally, but it still seems as if the price is a bit too high still. Even though the music is DRM-free, you can go out and buy the CD version of the album for nearly the same price and get better quality music and more for your money.
Which service do you use to download your legal music? Maybe you're still waiting for prices to drop on music tracks before you take the plunge into going digital-only. Let us know where you stand in the comments below or over in the forums.
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