WSJ.com - Wal-Mart to Offer Songs At 88 Cents a Download: "The discount retail giant is the latest company to launch an online music store, and the company is looking to leverage its considerable clout and undercut rivals' prices. Though the new site only supports computers running Microsoft Windows, Wal-Mart's 88-cent price tag still comes as a blow to competitors such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service and Roxio Inc.'s revived Napster site, both of which offer songs for 99 cents each.
In October, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs told CNBC the company's iTunes site wasn't itself profitable, though it helped Apple's bottom line by driving sales of its iPod digital music player.
Wal-Mart's online music store is run by the Liquid Digital Media unit of Anderson Merchandisers, a privately owned company that is already the chain's music distributor and the country's largest magazine wholesaler.
Wal-Mart said it plans to gather customer feedback and make modifications to the site prior to an official rollout planned for 2004.
In January, Anderson acquired some of the assets of troubled digital media company Liquid Audio with the intention of moving into the online music distribution business."
Article includes a succinct summary table of Wal-Mart, Musicmatch, Napster 20.0, iTunes, and BuyMusic services.
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