Downloading Music from walmart.com

Win XP Home + SP2
When I click "Buy" on a walmart.com song, I get a pop-up that says:

"We need to update your computer. ... Here's what we need to
install on your computer: Download Manager. ... Our download
manager makes getting our song files easy -- once you buy a song
it is automatically downloaded, ready to play, and easy to find
in your Windows Media Player media library."

This is _mandatory_ before you can buy and download a song.
The parts about doing this makes it "easy to download",
"ready to play", and "easy to find" sound like BS.
It can't be _technically necessary_ to install that
in order to do those things.

With the recent Sony root kit debacle, I'm reluctant to do this.
But I can't buy a song unless I do.
Any advice?

In news:4388F065.CE8D7672@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net,
ll <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> Win XP Home + SP2
> When I click "Buy" on a walmart.com song, I get a pop-up that says:
>
> "We need to update your computer. ... Here's what we need to
> install on your computer: Download Manager. ... Our download
> manager makes getting our song files easy -- once you buy a song
> it is automatically downloaded, ready to play, and easy to find
> in your Windows Media Player media library."
>
> This is _mandatory_ before you can buy and download a song.
> The parts about doing this makes it "easy to download",
> "ready to play", and "easy to find" sound like BS.
> It can't be _technically necessary_ to install that
> in order to do those things.
>
> With the recent Sony root kit debacle, I'm reluctant to do this.
> But I can't buy a song unless I do.
> Any advice?

Don't use Wal-Mart's site? Consider an alternative, there's a great number
of them. One such example is: http://music.msn.com/ which I've personally
used and enjoyed. I did recently trial one other one but I'm reluctant to
recommend them because even though I canceled they still insisted on trying
to bill my for two months after the trial had ended. In this case I'm
personally sticking with well known sites and I tend to avoid any site that
forces me to download anything. While I doubt Wal-Mart is installing
anything as evil as a rootkit - I'd certainly not put it past any large
business who's main profits come actually from information to do more than
just install a simple download manager. I commend your choice to ask and to
be skeptical. I'd highly recommend avoiding any site that forces you to
download something just to download music. It just seems, well, a bit much
if you ask me. Even if they don't install anything bad the very idea that
they feel that they can force you/me/us to install software for the simple
act of downloading a paid for bit of ones and zeros is just a bit
presumptuous on their part.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
existence." - Sherlock Holmes

I agree with Galen. Stay away from the Wal-Mart downloads. Try below.
Yahoo! Music Unlimited: More than 1 million songs. Listen, share, download
http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/?ov...ds&o vtac=PPC
--
XP - WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.


"Galen" wrote:

> In news:4388F065.CE8D7672@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net,
> ll <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> had this to say:
>
> My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
>
> > Win XP Home + SP2
> > When I click "Buy" on a walmart.com song, I get a pop-up that says:
> >
> > "We need to update your computer. ... Here's what we need to
> > install on your computer: Download Manager. ... Our download
> > manager makes getting our song files easy -- once you buy a song
> > it is automatically downloaded, ready to play, and easy to find
> > in your Windows Media Player media library."
> >
> > This is _mandatory_ before you can buy and download a song.
> > The parts about doing this makes it "easy to download",
> > "ready to play", and "easy to find" sound like BS.
> > It can't be _technically necessary_ to install that
> > in order to do those things.
> >
> > With the recent Sony root kit debacle, I'm reluctant to do this.
> > But I can't buy a song unless I do.
> > Any advice?
>
> Don't use Wal-Mart's site? Consider an alternative, there's a great number
> of them. One such example is: http://music.msn.com/ which I've personally
> used and enjoyed. I did recently trial one other one but I'm reluctant to
> recommend them because even though I canceled they still insisted on trying
> to bill my for two months after the trial had ended. In this case I'm
> personally sticking with well known sites and I tend to avoid any site that
> forces me to download anything. While I doubt Wal-Mart is installing
> anything as evil as a rootkit - I'd certainly not put it past any large
> business who's main profits come actually from information to do more than
> just install a simple download manager. I commend your choice to ask and to
> be skeptical. I'd highly recommend avoiding any site that forces you to
> download something just to download music. It just seems, well, a bit much
> if you ask me. Even if they don't install anything bad the very idea that
> they feel that they can force you/me/us to install software for the simple
> act of downloading a paid for bit of ones and zeros is just a bit
> presumptuous on their part.
>
> --
> Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
> http://dts-l.org/
>
> "My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
> existence." - Sherlock Holmes
>
>
>

Byte wrote:
> I agree with Galen. Stay away from the Wal-Mart downloads. Try below.
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited: More than 1 million songs. Listen, share, download
> http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/?ov...ds&o vtac=PPC
> --
> XP - WNP
> Today is the first day of the
> rest of your life.
>
>
> "Galen" wrote:
>
> > In news:4388F065.CE8D7672@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net,
> > ll <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> had this to say:
> >
> > My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
> >
> > > Win XP Home + SP2
> > > When I click "Buy" on a walmart.com song, I get a pop-up that says:
> > >
> > > "We need to update your computer. ... Here's what we need to
> > > install on your computer: Download Manager. ... Our download
> > > manager makes getting our song files easy -- once you buy a song
> > > it is automatically downloaded, ready to play, and easy to find
> > > in your Windows Media Player media library."
> > >
> > > This is _mandatory_ before you can buy and download a song.
> > > The parts about doing this makes it "easy to download",
> > > "ready to play", and "easy to find" sound like BS.
> > > It can't be _technically necessary_ to install that
> > > in order to do those things.
> > >
> > > With the recent Sony root kit debacle, I'm reluctant to do this.
> > > But I can't buy a song unless I do.
> > > Any advice?
> >
> > Don't use Wal-Mart's site? Consider an alternative, there's a great number
> > of them. One such example is: http://music.msn.com/ which I've personally
> > used and enjoyed. I did recently trial one other one but I'm reluctant to
> > recommend them because even though I canceled they still insisted on trying
> > to bill my for two months after the trial had ended. In this case I'm
> > personally sticking with well known sites and I tend to avoid any site that
> > forces me to download anything. While I doubt Wal-Mart is installing
> > anything as evil as a rootkit - I'd certainly not put it past any large
> > business who's main profits come actually from information to do more than
> > just install a simple download manager. I commend your choice to ask and to
> > be skeptical. I'd highly recommend avoiding any site that forces you to
> > download something just to download music. It just seems, well, a bit much
> > if you ask me. Even if they don't install anything bad the very idea that
> > they feel that they can force you/me/us to install software for the simple
> > act of downloading a paid for bit of ones and zeros is just a bit
> > presumptuous on their part.
> >
> > --
> > Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
> > http://dts-l.org/
> >
> > "My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
> > existence." - Sherlock Holmes
> >
> >
> >

Irrespective of any music download service, either it is msn music,
yahoo music, apple itunes. you need to install their client component
in your pc to manage downloads. So I would say installing wal-mart
music install does not harm your PC. i have used it without any
problem.

Byte wrote:
> I agree with Galen. Stay away from the Wal-Mart downloads. Try below.
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited: More than 1 million songs. Listen, share, download
> http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/?ov...ds&o vtac=PPC
> --
> XP - WNP
> Today is the first day of the
> rest of your life.
>
>
> "Galen" wrote:
>
> > In news:4388F065.CE8D7672@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net,
> > ll <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> had this to say:
> >
> > My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
> >
> > > Win XP Home + SP2
> > > When I click "Buy" on a walmart.com song, I get a pop-up that says:
> > >
> > > "We need to update your computer. ... Here's what we need to
> > > install on your computer: Download Manager. ... Our download
> > > manager makes getting our song files easy -- once you buy a song
> > > it is automatically downloaded, ready to play, and easy to find
> > > in your Windows Media Player media library."
> > >
> > > This is _mandatory_ before you can buy and download a song.
> > > The parts about doing this makes it "easy to download",
> > > "ready to play", and "easy to find" sound like BS.
> > > It can't be _technically necessary_ to install that
> > > in order to do those things.
> > >
> > > With the recent Sony root kit debacle, I'm reluctant to do this.
> > > But I can't buy a song unless I do.
> > > Any advice?
> >
> > Don't use Wal-Mart's site? Consider an alternative, there's a great number
> > of them. One such example is: http://music.msn.com/ which I've personally
> > used and enjoyed. I did recently trial one other one but I'm reluctant to
> > recommend them because even though I canceled they still insisted on trying
> > to bill my for two months after the trial had ended. In this case I'm
> > personally sticking with well known sites and I tend to avoid any site that
> > forces me to download anything. While I doubt Wal-Mart is installing
> > anything as evil as a rootkit - I'd certainly not put it past any large
> > business who's main profits come actually from information to do more than
> > just install a simple download manager. I commend your choice to ask and to
> > be skeptical. I'd highly recommend avoiding any site that forces you to
> > download something just to download music. It just seems, well, a bit much
> > if you ask me. Even if they don't install anything bad the very idea that
> > they feel that they can force you/me/us to install software for the simple
> > act of downloading a paid for bit of ones and zeros is just a bit
> > presumptuous on their part.
> >
> > --
> > Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
> > http://dts-l.org/
> >
> > "My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
> > existence." - Sherlock Holmes
> >
> >
> >