Cheaper DRM-Free Downloads?

[potthole]

Walmart has begun to sell DRM-free music downloads online for 94 cents per download.  This is over 30 cents less than iTunes' cost of $1.29 for DRM-free downloads.  Would this difference in price cause you to start downloading from Walmart?

[tape-leg]

I see they're MP3, but what bitrate?  I would imagine 192.  Their MP3 downloads section is only for Windows which is a big downside.  Anyways, I'd never pay for music that isn't full quality, so I don't use any downloading services.

The less-biased word:
iTunes is 128kbps AAC which is equivalent in quality to 192kbps MP3, so if Wal-Mart meets that specification, then I guess you'd be better off with them.  What's their selection like, though?  They have an awful CD selection in stores.  iTunes has almost everything.

[potthole]

I haven't actually used the Walmart downloads yet, but from a quick browse I seemed to find most artists I'd be interested in downloading.  Even if their downloads were only equal to a 128 MP3, I'd think I'd be fine.  That's the most common bitrate I download from non-iTunes programs and I haven't had any quality issues.

[Nicolas Sarkozy]

There should be a service that sells DRM-free V0 MP3s. That'd be the best you could get under FLAC, and it'd be even cooler if said service also offered FLAC downloads for a higher price.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

Still won't get me to stop downloading from iTunes. Sorry.

[tape-leg]

There should be a service that sells DRM-free V0 MP3s. That'd be the best you could get under FLAC, and it'd be even cooler if said service also offered FLAC downloads for a higher price.

the highest VBR, yeah, but first of all V0 is a LAME setting and I think music download stores use super secret encoders, and second I don't think they ever sell VBRs because of the ambiguity of the resulting files.  Two VBR rips of the same song can be slightly different (not noticably to the ear whatsoever, but there is more room for...undesirable uniqueness of the song files?).

[potthole]

Still won't get me to stop downloading from iTunes. Sorry.

Just curious, why not?  The prospect of saving 30 cents per song appeals greatly to me.

[tape-leg]

If he doesn't use iTunes Plus, I'm sure he'd pay the extra five cents for the convenience of having the store built in to the media player.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

Just curious, why not?  The prospect of saving 30 cents per song appeals greatly to me.

For one thing, it's more convenient to take songs from iTunes and put them on my iPod.

For another thing, I don't know the compatibility of the songs from there to an iPod. Sure, I'm guessing it would be, but without more info, no way of knowing. Plus, iTunes has more of a selection, and I don't want to install more software on my laptop. I have to be very careful what I put on there to keep it from slowing down, as I had a lot of work done on it in the summer because of a bunch of crap I had on there. Not to mention, I still have a lot of money left over from giftcards. Plus no podcasts or episodes of TV shows, which I get fairly often as well.

[potthole]

If he doesn't use iTunes Plus, I'm sure he'd pay the extra five cents for the convenience of having the store built in to the media player.

The convenience factor is big, very true.  I don't use iTunes Plus, so in a way I'd only be saving the five cents per song, but the only reason I haven't used iTunes Plus is because I'm not willing to pony up the extra cash.

For one thing, it's more convenient to take songs from iTunes and put them on my iPod.

For another thing, I don't know the compatibility of the songs from there to an iPod. Sure, I'm guessing it would be, but without more info, no way of knowing. Plus, iTunes has more of a selection, and I don't want to install more software on my laptop. I have to be very careful what I put on there to keep it from slowing down, as I had a lot of work done on it in the summer because of a bunch of crap I had on there. Not to mention, I still have a lot of money left over from giftcards. Plus no podcasts or episodes of TV shows, which I get fairly often as well.

All good points, indeed.  The Walmart website says their songs will work fine on an iPod.  Sure, there would be the extra step of first adding a downloaded song to your iTunes before you could pop it onto said iPod, but for the money saved I'll put up with that.

Since I haven't used their service, I'm not sure if any extra software would need to be installed.  There's probably something, but I don't think they are offering a player (such as iTunes), so I'm guessing it wouldn't be as big as iTunes.  The next time I decide I need to download some music, I think I might give this Walmart service a try.  If they have what I want and if it's not too big of a mess to get things to crossover to my iTunes/iPod, I will be a very happy customer with the money I save.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

The convenience factor is big, very true.  I don't use iTunes Plus, so in a way I'd only be saving the five cents per song, but the only reason I haven't used iTunes Plus is because I'm not willing to pony up the extra cash.


All good points, indeed.  The Walmart website says their songs will work fine on an iPod.  Sure, there would be the extra step of first adding a downloaded song to your iTunes before you could pop it onto said iPod, but for the money saved I'll put up with that.

Since I haven't used their service, I'm not sure if any extra software would need to be installed.  There's probably something, but I don't think they are offering a player (such as iTunes), so I'm guessing it wouldn't be as big as iTunes.  The next time I decide I need to download some music, I think I might give this Walmart service a try.  If they have what I want and if it's not too big of a mess to get things to crossover to my iTunes/iPod, I will be a very happy customer with the money I save.

Hmm, didn't know you had an iPod. Well, let us know how it goes. I'm not opposed to using it, but it does matter to me if I'd have to do some work like burning a CD in order to then rip it as an open MP3 or if I have to download something.

[potthole]

Hmm, didn't know you had an iPod. Well, let us know how it goes. I'm not opposed to using it, but it does matter to me if I'd have to do some work like burning a CD in order to then rip it as an open MP3 or if I have to download something.

Yup, last summer I snatched up one of the old style iPod Shuffle's.  I'd like to upgrade, but the Shuffle gets the job done for now, so there's no need for me to spend the money.  I'll probably give Walmart's service a try sometime in the semi-near future, and will report back my experiences.

[Homestarguy]

By the way, as of about a month ago, iTunes Plus music is now 99 cents. However, not every song on iTunes is DRM-free yet, but a vast majority are.