Wal-mart thinks they're going to sell you "custom CDs" (3 songs, $4.62)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/18680533

Amy Colella, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman in Brisbane, Calif., where the world's largest retailer's online operations are based, said many customers without a CD burner or broadband access to the Internet — which makes downloading music faster — prefer having their music in CD format.

"We see that physical CDs at our site at walmart.com continue to be strong," she said. "This (the customized CD) is just another service option. It's really just kind of to give them that added convenience."

The cost to download music from the site is 88 cents per song or typically $9.44 an album, Colella said. The cost for a customized CD of three songs is $4.62 plus 88 cents for each additional song. Shipping costs $1.97.

Analyst Phil Leigh of Tampa, Fla., founder of Inside Digital Media Inc., said other companies have been-there, done-that. "I think they (Wal-Mart) are going to be disappointed. The price isn't that attractive. It was tried before" by a few startup companies in the dot-com boom and was not successful, Leigh said. Also, other companies, like Apple iTunes, offer downloadable music that provides consumers "instant gratification." There's no real cost advantage to what Wal-Mart is offering here," Leigh said.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I'd agree with the analysts, however...

Wal Mart is everywhere and is frequented by many stupid Americans.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. Yes, absolutely...Wal-Mart's "base" will pick up on this one...

...but I remember the little "custom CD" and "custom cassette" vending machines in stores. They went the way of the dinosaur, and pretty quickly.

It would be an interesting "What's on Bush's iPod"-type follow up story to see the list of songs that end up on those CDs. My guess is that it will be more Toby Keith and less Dixie Chicks.

:toast:

[expatriot]

2. 10+ years ago I had an idea that there should be Create-a-CD kiosks

Like those Create-a-Card kiosks they used to have, where you could purchase songs that you wanted and it would shoot out the CD and charge you by the song.

I also had an idea to put a snack and soda vending machine on top of self-pay gas pumps so you could get a soda and a snack and have it put on your credit card transaction. That was like ten years ago and I still haven't seen them.

[guitar man]

4. sure

I bet they use the cheapest, sorriest cdr media available and burn it at 52x. Good luck getting it to play!

[ClintonTyree]

5. They will be disappointed...

MP3 players are much preferred by most young consumers these days. The typical trailer park trash Wal-Mart customer will probably like it though. They'll get orders for some Toby Keith CDs, but that's about it. No serious musicologist is going to use their half-assed service.