Microsoft Prepares to Launch Music Store

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5176411.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5176411.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news</a><br /><br /></div>"Microsoft said Friday that the second half of the year will see the launch of its online music store, a long-expected entry into an increasingly crowded business dominated by Apple Computer's iTunes. The software giant this week began offering sneak peaks of the service to independent record labels at the South by Southwest trade show in Austin, Texas. Though Microsoft remains mum about specific details, this week's dog and pony show signals the company's heightened ambitions to enter the world of online music sales with a bang. <br /><br />Microsoft will promote its music store primarily through its MSN.com Web portal, according to company spokeswoman Lisa Gurry. Visitors will be able to sign up via MSN and browse a catalog of songs and albums to purchase and download onto their computers. Gurry declined to comment on pricing or on the number of songs Microsoft plans to initially release on the service."<br /><br />I'm pretty excited about this, because I'm much more inclined to put up with DRM on WMA files than on AAC, because I have nothing that plays AAC files. Of course, with my luck, it won't be available to Canadians at launch. :roll:

[James Fee]

So when MSN has sign in problems (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115285,00.asp) we won't be able to download music? :rolleyes:

Seriously I'm interested to see how many songs the line up. It appears iTunes is really pushing the "exclusive" angle these days and I'm sure that will step up.

Guess we can stick a fork in Musicmatch and Napster huh?

[ojlittle]

I use iTunes as my primary music download source. However, iTunes doesn't always have what Napster has & Napster doesn't always have what iTunes has. I have two iPods (40gb & Mini) so everything I buy from Napster or MusicMatch (which is very little) gets converted to AAC with iTunes (burn to CD & rip).

I'm almost exactly opposite of you Jason... I have a PPC that plays WMA's but I prefer a dedicated music device with more memory. The devices I have don't play WMA's (although just about every one on the market other than iPods do).

[OSUKid7]

So when MSN has sign in problems (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115285,00.asp) we won't be able to download music? :rollyes:
yep ;) and since MS is gonna buy AOL, when MSN has sign-in problems we won't be able to use AIM, ICQ, etc. lol. :lol:

[Gary Sheynkman]

you forgot that they are also buying US, UK, UN, NATO lol :lol:

[Kent Pribbernow]

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that when this new service launches it will be widely criticized by anti-Microsoft types as "crap" "bloatware" "buggy" etc? Ah yes....such open minds. :roll:

[Suhit Gupta]

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that when this new service launches it will be widely criticized by anti-Microsoft types as "crap" "bloatware" "buggy" etc? Ah yes....such open minds. :roll:
Well, that is the typical response to all Microsoft services. It is always looked at with suspicion, i.e. how are they going to take over this market?

Suhit

[Janak Parekh]

Of course, with my luck, it won't be available to Canadians at launch. :roll:
I'd be very surprised if it's available in Canada. You can blame the CRIA for that, not Apple/Napster/Microsoft.

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that when this new service launches it will be widely criticized by anti-Microsoft types as "crap" "bloatware" "buggy" etc?
I'm not anti-Microsoft, as I'm typing this on a WinXP box, but I can say without hesitation that Passport and other MS online services are nowhere near reliable enough. MSNM has far more outages than competing IM networks, in my experience.

--janak