Up to and through Wal-Mart's entry into the online movie download business early this year with the full support of the major studios there was a lot of talk about what the giant retailer's clout might mean for the competition, particularly Apple's iTunes. When Wal-Mart unceremoniously closed the service on Dec. 21, the most telling reaction was that there was no reaction at all for a week. No one noticed! Apparently an insufficient number of the public were eager for the chance to pay a price comparable to a physical DVD for a download laden with digital rights management shackles that restricted its play to a single computer and did not allow for the burning of a backup that could be used with a standard DVD player and a television. Go figure. HP, which provided the back-end software, saw how things were going and decided to cut its losses and stop development. Wal-Mart had nothing left but to close down the service. The video download store will be interred in a secluded cemetery in Bentonville near the final resting places of some of Wal-Mart's previous forays online, including initial stumbling attempts at a general retail site (re-launched four times between 1996 and 2000), and its movie-rental-by-mail service died after two years. And given where its online photo service ends up in comparative reviews, that's looking a little sick, too. Wal-Mart may be the 800 pound gorilla in the bricks and mortar world, but online it's not making much of an impression.
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Stick to aisle twelve!
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