Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Wal-Mart, Real Deals Good for Competition

Thank goodness someone is putting "Real" pressure on Apple's iTunes and introducing some competition into digital music. Wal-Mart will sell digital rights management free tracks for just 88 cents, and RealNetworks is combining with MTV and Verizon to deliver music to mobile phones.

At the gym this morning I was thinking how the music industry and retailers led by iTunes have limited consumer choice by selling nearly all tracks from the major labels for the same price. Good for Wal-Mart for shaking up the pricing structure sans DRM. RealNetworks is trying to get up off the mat with the MTV deal, which felt the Urge to purge itself from dealing Microsoft's lame music service.

I recently helped someone set up iTunes on a new PC, and it was a slow, clumsy nightmare to copy tracks from a CD. The files were taking forever, but after he registered for iTunes, the service somehow got faster. Go figure. Competition will keep Apple from taking advantage of its legion of diehard iPod lovers.

Posted By John Gartner at 11:52 AM
Permanent Link: Wal-Mart, Real Deals Good for Competition | Comments (0)

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:
WebSite:
Comment:
Remember Me
Subscribe