Is music something you own or something you rent? While the music subscription approach has grown in recent years, far more music fans have opted to buy songs by the track, a business model popularized by Apple Computer Inc. iTunes Music Store and its hugely successful iPod portable player.
But the release late last year of new copy-protection software from Microsoft may begin to change that. The software frees subscribers to move their rented tracks from their computers to certain portable music players. The system works by essentially putting a timer on the tracks loaded on the player. Every time the user connects the player to the PC and the music service, the player automatically checks whether the user’s subscription is still in effect. Songs stop playing if the subscription has lapsed. If the user doesn’t regularly sync up the player with the service, the songs go dead as well.
RealNetworks, MusicNow and MusicNet, which distributes its service through brands like America Online and Cdigix, all have plans to launch portable subscription services this year or early 2006 at the latest. Napster LLC and F.Y.E., another MusicNet distributor, began offering portable subscriptions late last year through the Windows Media Player software, code named Janus.
Napster plans to turn up the heat on Apple with a $30 million advertising campaign debuting during Sunday’s Super Bowl to promote a re-launch of its portable subscription service, dubbed Napster To Go. Napster’s service is $14.95 a month – about $5 more than a non-portable subscription. F.Y.E’s service is also $14.95.
Read More at this AP Story.
am i the only one who thinks this smell like the DiVX disater or not so long ago?