WALMART PULLS PLUG ON ONLINE MUSIC STORE

According to Digital Music News, Walmart's MP3 store will shut its digital doors forever on August 28th.

Walmart's music store was seen as an "iTunes killer" at one time. By deeply discounting MP3s to only $0.88 Walmart hoped to dethrone the Apple king. However, Walmart, even with the discounts, could not overcome the power of the idevice's tight integration with iTunes.

A representative of Wal-Mart noted that older, protected files will still be supported. "We’ve made a business decision to no longer offer MP3 digital tracks as of August 29, 2011," the executive confirmed. In late 2008, the company finally secured licenses to shift away from DRM-protected purchased and towards MP3s. "We'll continue to provide support to our customers who previously purchased digital music through Walmart Music Downloads so they may continue to enjoy and manage their existing WMA files."

WAL-MART ADDS MOVIE STREAMING TO WEBSITE

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has added streaming movies to its website as the world's largest retailer attempts to grab a bigger share of the online movie market from rival service Netflix Inc.

The decision to offer movie sales and rentals through Walmart.com comes just two weeks after Netflix raised prices for the majority of its customers. The price hike provoked howls of protest from consumers and disappointing subscriber growth projections, leading to a significant drop in Netflix's stock price.

Wal-Mart, long the nation's leading seller of DVDs, signaled its intent to double down on digital movie distribution in February 2010, when it spent a reported $100 million to acquire Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up that was gradually being added to home entertainment devices.

Since the acquisition, Vudu has been able to leverage the giant retailer's clout with manufacturers to incorporate is service into more than 300 consumer electronics products, including Internet-connected television sets, Blu-ray disc players and the Sony PlayStation 3 game console.

This spring, Vudu began offering movie rentals and purchases via the Web, through Vudu.com, positioning the service to better compete with the likes of Amazon.com, Apple Inc.'s iTunes or Blockbuster.

Offering 20,000 movie titles for rental and purchase through Wal-Mart's website, which attracts about 40 million monthly visitors, is a further step in that direction. It better positions the retailer to take on established online players, as well as traditional competitors such as Best Buy, which last may bought digital video service CinemaNow.

On Wal-Mart's website, the movies will be available the same day the DVDs go on sale in stores. Rental prices range from 99 cents to $5.99. Digital purchases are priced from $4.99 to $24.99.

APPLE SURPASSES GOOGLE AS MOST VALUABLE BRAND IN THE WORLD

Apple has surpassed Google as world’s most valuable brand, according to advertising firm WPP’s “BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” study. Apple’s brand value has ballooned 859% since 2006, and increased 84% to $153.3 billion this year. Tech companies dominate the rankings: AT&T, China Mobile, IBM, and Microsoft all have spots in the top-10 most valuable brands list, and McDonald’s is the only non-tech brand in the top-5. Google had reigned supreme for the past four years before being displaced by Apple, and Amazon surpassed Walmart to become the No. 1 retailer.

NETFLIX CUSTOMERS ARE DUE A GIFT CARD FROM WAL-MART

In 2005, Wal-Mart and Netflix teamed-up to ward-off Blockbuster: Wal-Mart ceased renting DVDs online, and Netflix promised never to sell physical DVDs. According to a court case, that agreement violated antitrust laws—which means Netflix customers are owed money.

Wal-Mart chose to settle the case, and will gift Netflix customers who become class members of the case a Walmart.com gift card, or maybe even a check. They're said to be spending between $29 million - $40 million making this issue disappear. Only those living in the US are eligible, but taking into account there's 16 million Netflix customers in the US and Canada, that's still a lot of people who could be in for a lump-sum. No word on how the affected parties will be contacted.

SEARS TO LAUNCH NETFLIX COMPETITOR

Sears, who also own Kmart, has just announced they will be launching a movie streaming service. They have partnered with Rovi who has just purchased Sonic Solutions. The new streaming platform will be named Alphaline and allow Sears and Kmart consumers to download movies and TV shows online. The service will be available on a number of devices including mobile according to the announcement.

A number of Sears’ competitors including Walmart have already started to dabble in the online movies space. Walmart recently bought Vudu, a service that streams movies to internet-connected TVs. BestBuy teamed up with Sonic to put its movie library in all of the Web-connected devices the company sells at its stores.

But when it comes to actual movie rentals from the web, these companies haven’t been able to compete with giants like Netflix. [TechCrunch]

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL ROUNDUP

Engadget has posted a great list of Black Friday deals. These are considered some of the best sales available.

Deals happening early

Dell's giving away a Froyo-packed Droid Incredible for free on two-year contract, with free activation and free shipping to boot, and you even get a $25 Dell gift card with your "purchase," too. Deal ends Monday, or while supplies last.

Lenovo is chopping some Benjamins off of select ThinkPads and ThinkCentre PCs, be sure to use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY.

Xbox Live's Thanksgiving Week sale goes through next Tuesday and includes discounts on tons of games, including discounts on Arcade games and Add Ons.

TokyoFlash is offering up to 50 percent off certain items as well as 15 percent off all watches beginning tomorrow online if you use the code BLACK.

Mimoco's got a sale going on already that runs through Cyber Monday. It includes a 30 percent discount off everything in their web store and free shipping if your purchase is over $30.

Samsung 46" 3D 1080p LED HDTV bundle for $1,520 at Newegg. This one comes with a Samsung BD-C5900 3D Blu-ray player, and a Shrek 3D Starter kit. All you need to do is add the television (which is regularly $1899) to your cart and use the coupon code EMCZZNN54.

MacMall's Black Friday event is going on right now and has some decent discounts, including a 13-inch MacBook Pro for $1,098. Their sale runs through Friday and is already underway.

EarphoneSolutions is offering 20 percent off site wide from now until Monday. Just use coupon code: CYBER2010

CyberPower and Newegg.com will make an AMD Athlon II and Intel Core i5-powered desktop system available at savings of more than 30 percent. The sale begins on November 24th and will run through Cyber Monday. Both systems have limited quantities so customers should plan on shopping early and visit the Newegg website to score some super holiday savings.

AMD's Facebook page is currently hosting a deal stream for notebooks, desktops, processors and other goodies featuring AMD technology, all of which were uncovered and tweeted with the #AMDdeals hashtag by AMD fans and shoppers all over North America.

Amazon VOD is offering a rental movie for 75% off through the 30th with the promotional code "RENTDEAL"

Apple authorized resellers MacConnection and MacMall have jumped the gun to offer discounts on Macs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs, and even the new MacBook Air starting on Thanksgiving. They'll even throw in free shipping and a free printer with each Mac sold. MacMass is also offering a free copy of Parallels Desktop 6. Typically it's the resellers, not Apple, who offer the best Black Friday deals. See AppleInsider for a detailed rundown on the savings.


General sale resources

Newegg.com starts its sale today at 4:00PM EST. We'll update with the best deals as we find them.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 unlocked for $190. Sure, it's chained to an antiquated version of Android, but boy is it cheap!
Need an e-reader? Perhaps the $90 Aluratek Libre Pro will do. It doesn't have an e-ink screen, but what do you expect for $90? Well, if you're lucky at Amazon this Friday (see above) you could pay the same for a Kindle 2...
Itching for a gaming mouse? Newegg has deep discounts on three -- a $35 Logitech G500, $40 Razer Lachesis Banshee and a $45 Microsoft SideWinder X8. There's also a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard for $50, or $30 after mail-in rebate.
There's also a pair of super-cheap LCD monitors for $90 each -- the 20-inch LG W2043TE and the 19-inch ASUS VE198T.
Building a desktop PC? You're going to need some memory, and good luck finding a better deal than this 4GB of G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 for the low price of $50.

Walmart will have both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday sales that start at 3:00AM EST on both days.

Target starts its Black Friday sale at 4AM on Friday. (TGG does not condone shopping at Target due to their attempt to buy a homophobic Minnesota governor)

Deal Vista has a massive Black Friday spreadsheet that is not for the faint of heart!

WALMART SETS BLACK FRIDAY TIMES AND REVEALS SOME SALE ITEMS

Black Friday shoppers typically line up and wait for the store to open at the crack of dawn so they can get those incredible, or not so incredible, deals for themselves and their loved ones. Walmart is getting a jump on the day and will open at midnight, the very second Thursday turns into Friday. However, shoppers will have to wait until 5am to get some of the best deals like a $69 Magnavox Blu-Ray player with $10 in VUDU credits or a Nintendo DS Lite for $89. Also on sale at 5am is:

• 15.6" HP Laptop – $298
• Emerson 32" LCD HDTV – $198
• Sansui 19" LCD HDTV – $98
• 15.6" eMachines Laptop – $198
• Kodak C183 Digital Camera (14 megapixels) – $59
• Tom Tom GPS XL 335 SE 4.3" GPS – $79

When the store opens at midnight the following items are on sale:

• Nintendo Wii – $199 with $50 Walmart Gift Card **
• Toy Story 3 DVD – $10 **
• Zhu Zhu Pets – $4
• Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker, 5-qt Oval – $9.97
• 500 Thread Count Sheets from Beautyrest – Full, Queen, King – $19.88
• Shark Steam Mop – $36
• Wrangler Jeans – $9
• Infant and Toddler 2-piece Character Sleepwear Sets – $4
• Lego Tubs – $15
• Power Wheels – $88
• Bikes – starting at $29

Of course all those are while supplies last, so get there early! [Engadget]

NOOK COLOR SHIPPING EARLY

The Nook Color, $249, has started to ship to pre-order customers. It was originally slated to begin shipping November 19th, however Barnes and Noble moved that date up by almost a week. In addition to those who pre-ordered or reserved their device, there will be limited quantities available through retail outlets like Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Walmart and Books-A-Million. [Engadget]

NOOK COMING TO WALMART

Barnes and Noble's ereader the Nook will debut at 2,500 Walmarts, and on Walmart.com, on October 24th.  The press release is below.

BARNES & NOBLE ANNOUNCES AWARD-WINNING NOOK™ EBOOK READER WILL BE SOLD AT WALMART
NOOK Devices to Be Sold in Walmart Stores and on Walmart.com Beginning Next Week
New York, NY – October 21, 2010 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today announced its award-winning NOOK eBook Reader will be sold in 2,500 Walmart stores (NYSE: WMT) and online at www.walmart.com. The popular NOOK devices are expected to arrive on Walmart shelves beginning as soon as October 24, in advance of the holiday shopping season.
The NOOK eBook Readers will be prominently featured as the premier eBook Reader in the consumer electronics area. Many Walmart stores will feature a NOOK-branded eReading area where shoppers can see and touch a demonstration device.
Walmart will offer both great choice and value with two NOOK by Barnes & Noble eBook Reader models — NOOK 3G, which offers free AT&T 3G wireless and Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as NOOK Wi-Fi, a Wi-Fi only model. Both offer a crisp, paper-like E-Ink display for reading and a beautiful color touch screen for navigation, and access to shop the Barnes & Noble expansive eBookstore with more than one million eBooks, magazines and newspapers, most available for $9.99 or less and more than half a million free titles. Digital content from Barnes & Noble is downloaded wirelessly in seconds. NOOK devices are also the only to offer sharing of eBooks with friends through Barnes & Noble's breakthrough LendMe™ technology.
"Sales of NOOK devices continue to exceed our expectations, and we are thrilled to be able to partner with Walmart, one of the world's greatest retailers, to expand the distribution of our award-winning NOOK eBook Reader," said Chris Peifer, Vice President, Digital Business Development at Barnes & Noble. "Walmart's millions of shoppers will have an easy and convenient way to try NOOK devices in many stores and to learn why NOOK is the most full-featured eReading device on the market, and the perfect gift solution for anyone who loves to read."

WALMART GETS iPAD TODAY

Walmart is feeling the Apple love today as it begins selling the wildly popular iPad.  Unfortunately, in an untypical Walmart fashion the dominant retail will follow Apple's pricing with the cheapest iPad starting at $499.  The list of Walmart's carrying the Apple device has not been disclosed, but it is thought to be in the hundreds.  By mid-November Walmart states the iPad will be in 2,300 stores nationwide.  The iPad will also appear on the Walmart website and you can purchase one from there, but you have to pick it up in store.

Apple initially struggled to keep up with demand for the iPad when it was released. An international launch had to be postponed due to strong demand for the tablet in the U.S. which saw sales surpass 500,000 units in the first week. Since then manufacturing has caught up and millions of iPad are shipped every month. [Geek]

RUMOR: FAMILY MOBILE FAMILY PLAN HITTING WALMART

Walmart will be offering a new unlimited family plan in stores, according to the Boy Genius Report.  The plans will offer unlimited minutes, shared data, text messages, no "surprise charges" (whatever that means) and the ability to upgrade at any time with no fee and no contract.  All of this will be powered by T-Mobile.  BGR is reporting one of the phones available on this plan is the Samsung Highlight [Boy Genius Report]