Amazon MP3 and iTunes—the only two online music stores that really matter—have another competitor to worry about now that Wal-Mart has re-launched its own music store. The “new and improved” (joke: how can something be both “new” and “improved”?) store sells DRM-free MP3s, most of which are encoded at 256kbps; some are only 192 kbps.
Individual songs start as low as 74 cents per song, which makes the new Wal-Mart store the least expensive one in town.
Wal-Mart is also giving away one free song per week. It’ll also toss in a free song for every CD you buy, either online or in the brick-and-mortar store. That little promotion starts next month.
Lastly, because the songs are merely MP3s they’ll work on any operating system—except, maybe, Red Hat 8!