Editor's note: In the original version of this article, Roxio's
I had my first go at paying to download music the other day and it left much to be desired. I eliminated RealNetworks'
Both Sony's
With the choices narrowed down to iTunes, Buy.com, and Wal-Mart
Then I found that none of the services had all the songs that I wanted. That's not their fault necessarily, as it's an artist and label issue. But, to get most of the songs on my list, I was going to have to use more than one service.
In the end, I went with Wal-Mart to save a buck, and I got what I paid for. Per the service, I had to read the help files in Microsoft's
Now my computer literacy is well above average -- not to brag -- but it says to me in a Peter Lynch sort of way that these services aren't ready for the average user yet. And therefore, much of the potential market is being left untapped and revenue is being limited. However, that also means there's potential for whichever company can step up and simplify the process.
The most likely right now is Apple because it's the current leading brand and its software is supposed to make burning simple, but if Amazon.com
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Fool contributor Mark Mahorney doesn't own shares of any companies mentioned.