Though it carries fewer songs than other download stores, Walmart's Music Downloads store does lead in one area: Karoake. For would-be performers looking for that one song in Karoake format, Walmart offers hope. A current check of their Web site shows close to a thousand songs available in Karoake format. In contrast, the iTunes Music Store only offers three. Choices range from Hey Jude and I Only Have Eyes for You to songs for the younger set, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Polly Wolly Doodle.

Walmart's store offers these downloads for $0.88 each, delivering them in Microsoft's WMA format (encoded at 128Kbps). They can be burned to CD up to ten times, transferred to WMA compatible portable music players, and played on one computer (with two "backup" computers allowed).

This service is available to Windows PC users (Win 98SE, Win ME, Win 2000, Win XP) running Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater and Windows Media Player 9.0 or greater. It is also available from within the Digital Media Mall featured in Microsoft's new Windows Media Player 10. Walmart gift cards can be used to purchase downloads.

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