Click to viewNow that EMI and Universal have seen the spark and started offering music in DRM - free MP3 data format — and according to well - plant rumors , Sony and Warner are also exploring a DRM - destitute launch in 2008 — online music store at last have the means to get iPod - friendly and take on iTunes . As you make love , iTunes only offers AAC file , a small fraction of which are DRM free , so Amazon and Wal - Mart have launch MP3 stores to lure people looking to buy their freshly - relinquish tunes elsewhere . So , iTunes defector , where should you go ? Into the intimate embracing of Amazon , or into the haired , bologna - scented arms of Wal - Mart ? I take them both for a twist , and made the call .
What ’s For Sale
Much to the joy of the disc label , Wal - Mart and Amazon.com both volunteer reel pricing on their wares ( as opposed to iTunes which in general sustain flat rate for its song and albums ) . On Wal - Mart ’s land site , there ’s a menu on the upper left that lets you separate through albums that be $ 7.88 , $ 5.88 or $ 3.88 , and there ’s also a selection of $ 2.24 “ polish off packs . ” What does n’t make sense is that elsewhere on the pageboy , album are offer for $ 5.64 and $ 4.70 , and if you savvy around on the land site you ’ll discover even more arbitrary pricing . Albums loosely top out at $ 9.44 from what I saw , while single trail be 94 or 88 centime .
Amazon ’s albums also range in price . Just look at the option of Nirvana albums record that you may pay only $ 5.99 for In Utero , but the price jumps to $ 7.99 for Nevermind and $ 9.97 for Bleach . The individual track are n’t uniformly price here , either , with some cart track costing 99 cents and some 89 cents , even on the same record album . Like Wal - Mart , you could browse by damage here , but it stand by to dollar ranges ( $ 5 to $ 5.99 , $ 6 to $ 6.99 , etc . ) so it nominate more good sense than Wal - Mart ’s arbitrary card .
Comparison Shopping
How do the prices liken between the sites ? Well , from my unscientific sample distribution , Amazon seems to be the loud choice . All of Nirvana ’s albums , for example , are $ 9.22 on Wal - Mart , and that ’s for the censor versions . The listing for the uncensored interlingual rendition all say “ Not available for download . Buy this on standard candle from Walmart.com . ” No , no I wo n’t .
Other price discrepancies include Air ’s Pocket Symphony ( $ 8.99 on Amazon , $ 9.22 on Wal - Mart ) , Broken Social Scene ’s self - titled record album ( $ 7.99 on amazon , $ 9.44 on Wal - Mart ) , and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane ( $ 8.97 on Amazon , $ 9.22 on Wal - Mart ) . More often than not , the prices are better on Amazon .
And a circle of albums that are on Amazon are n’t usable at all on Wal - Mart . Boxer by The National ? Nope , no albums from The National at all on Wal - Mart , nor of Smog . In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel , Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem and Horn of Plenty by Grizzly Bear are all available on Amazon and missing from Wal - Mart as well .
You ’ve also got to be thrifty , because some album available on Amazon in MP3 are only available on Wal - Mart ’s site in locked - down 128kbps WMA . Wal - Mart does have the decency to state whether or not a track “ represent on iPod , ” though , so you ’re cool if you devote attending . See the Band of Horses ’ Cease to Begin example here :
Praising Amazon over Wal - Mart is n’t the same as articulate Amazon ’s choice is amazing . A lot of multiplication they do n’t have the utter catalogue of an creative person ( Grizzly Bear ’s Modern Yellow House is n’t available on either , for lesson ) . And obviously you wo n’t find anything from Sony or Warner on there .
But by and turgid , the selection on Amazon , specially of self-governing recording label creative person , is clearly higher-ranking to Wal - Mart ’s . And not having to deal with WMA result mixed in with your MP3 searches is much better .
What About Design ?
Both stores take over liberally from iTunes ’ layout . There are genres on the right field , top birdcall on the leftfield , and featured stuff in the middle . Both have search results that feature track in a lower panelling and menus above . Both allow you to select any of the newspaper column to go the right way to that artist or album as well . The Amazon translation feels a bite more graceful to me , but it really is a personal penchant : in term of functionality , neither one really beats the other .
For downloading , Amazon requires both Windows and Mac user to first set up a small programme called , conveniently enough , the Amazon MP3 Downloader . Once you set up it , when you select the Song dynasty or album you want to download , and the rest happens automatically . By default , the MP3 Downloader bond it in your music pamphlet and then imports it to iTunes for you , which is convenient . However , for someone like me , who keep his entire euphony solicitation on a different hard driving force in meticulously organized folders , it ’s a little annoying to not be able to choose where each data file goes rather than just selecting one default option spot . For the great unwashed who just deck everything in their iTunes music folder , however , it ’s cake .
Wal - Mart also has a program for downloading songs that requires a shuddery ActiveX script to install — and yes , unlike Amazon ’s , this thing is only available to Windows XP and Vista PC user . No Macs allow . The Download Manager is harder to install too , with IE fighting you every tone of the fashion to get it running .
It works a mass like Amazon ’s program , hide in your task legal community and waiting to be loaded up with songs by the site , but there are fewer preferences . I could n’t even find an alternative letting me blame a download destination . It only kick in you an choice to add up it to your Windows Media Library , which is useless to me , but later I discovered a “ Wal - Mart Purchased Media ” playlist in iTunes . When it stop , it give you the pick to play the song , which if you do opens the Sung dynasty in Windows Media Player regardless of what your nonpayment MP3 player is . Worst of all , I had to search for the localization of the downloaded single file itself . It end up in My Documents / My Music / Downloads / Artist / Album , again , wholly pointless for my purposes . Not having the ability to select a destination pamphlet is high-risk intent ; not telling multitude where to find their freshly paid - for music is idiotic .
And the Winner Is …
The fact that Wal - Mart ram me to apply Internet Explorer ( and only crop on Windows ) is enough for me to never use it ( gravely , Wal - Mart ? Seriously ? ) . Beyond that , the cost , choice and downloader were all honorable at Amazon . It ’ll be intimate to anyone who ’s used to iTunes and promiscuous for people who ’ve never bought music online before , which should facilitate them out greatly with their upcoming billion - song giveaway . In the end , which do I suggest ? Amazon , to be indisputable .
What about iTunes ?
The real question is whether or not I ’d willingly switch to either storage from iTunes , if format was n’t an number . The reply , from a strict functionality point of view , is “ no . ” The fact that iTunes is a standalone computer programme that also play all your music shit it a far more elegant resolution than either Wal - Mart or Amazon . There ’s no extra political platform to download , there ’s no worrying about where the song go , and there ’s no dealing with browsers .
However , the pricing in Amazon ’s ( and Wal - Mart ’s to a lesser degree ) store is very competitive , oftentimes significantly gimcrack than iTunes . mix that with the fact that you get MP3 filing cabinet that ’ll play on more devices than Apple ’s AAC , and you ’ve get a serious challenger in Amazon ’s store , especially for the cheap and anal retentive . It just bet if you ’re willing to bequeath iTunes to go to the store . [ Amazon.com;Wal - Mart ]
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