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“在運營八年后，網址為mp3.walmart.com的沃爾瑪（Walmart）音樂下載商店宣布將于2011年8月28日關門大吉。屆時該網站的所有內容將失效，而且也不再向用戶提供下載?！?/p> 本周二，音樂資訊網站Digital Music News刊發了沃爾瑪向其經銷商和授權伙伴發出的相關信函。即將關閉的沃爾瑪音樂下載商店在開業之初曾被譽為“iTunes殺手”，如今卻黯然離去，此后幾乎無人再能挑戰蘋果（Apple）在數字音樂領域的統治地位。目前亞馬遜運營的音樂商店排行全美第二，不過與蘋果相距甚遠。Spotify雖在歐洲勢頭強勁，不過其扎根美國的嘗試卻幾次三番受阻。 沃爾瑪的策略是采用比蘋果更低的價格出售下載音樂。不過正像Digital Music News指出的，僅僅10美分的差價是不夠的。 “看來價格并不是音樂下載市場最重要的因素。曾幾何時，沃爾瑪依靠高折扣的88美分音樂被譽為‘iTunes殺手’。不過iTunes與iPod和iPhone相結合，提供了天衣無縫的用戶界面；而且它還能存儲信用卡信息，營造了良好的購物體驗，沃爾瑪的價格折扣與這些相比，簡直不值一提。” 雖然沃爾瑪在向經銷商的信中表示，網站的所有內容到月底都將失效。不過一位公司代表向Digital Music News透露，將繼續對部分老歌和受版權保護的歌曲提供支持，至少從目前來看是如此。 譯者：項航 |
????"After eight years in business, the Walmart Music Downloads Store located at mp3.walmart.com will close on August 28, 2011. All content in the Store will be disabled and no longer available for download from the store." ????So begins the certified letter sent to Walmart's (WMT) distribution and licensing partners and posted Tuesday by Digital Music News. The death of the service that was hailed as an "iTunes killer" when it launched leaves few challengers to Apple's (AAPL) domination of the digital music market. In the U.S., Amazon (AMZN) runs a distant second. Spotify has a strong following in Europe, but its efforts to get a foothold in the U.S. have been repeatedly delayed. ????Walmart's strategy had been to undercut Apple with cheaper downloads. But as Digital Music News notes, a dime's savings here or there was not enough. ????"It looks like price isn't the most important thing when it comes to music downloads. Once upon a time, Walmart was an 'iTunes-killer' with deeply-discounted, 88-cent MP3s. But discounts meant little compared to integrated iPod and iPhone integration, a superior iTunes user interface, and the tether created by stored credit cards (which Apple does well)." ????Although its letter to distributors warned that all content on the store would be disabled by the end of the month, a company representative told Digital Music News that older, copy-protected songs will continue to be supported -- at least for now. |
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