Kent Pribbernow
05-05-2004, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5205781.html?tag=nefd.top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5205781.html?tag=nefd.top</a><br /><br /></div>"Sony on Tuesday launched its online music store, throwing its hat into a ring that has been dominated for a year by Apple Computer's iTunes. As a competitor with significant resources--and a long list of music devices with which it hopes to rival the iPod--Sony's entry into the market could help change the dynamics of digital music sales. But Sony could also complicate the market for consumers, by selling music in yet another copy-protected technological format that is incompatible with any of the other services."<br /><br />Somehow the entrance of Sony into this market is rather frightening to me. With its past mistakes with DRM and audio codecs that were half baked to say the least, I hold some fairly negative preconceptions about this move. And Sony still doesn't have a compelling audio device to leverage its music store. That's something that continues to give Apple the leading role in this young industry.<br /><br />I think it's going to take Sony several more tries before they get this right.