Is this it works, you dont actually own the music when you subscribe but can only listen to it online? I thought when you subscribe you are actually able to download and own any number of tracks for the subscription price.
You can download it all, and listen to it for at least 30 days without requiring a license renewal - so you can take it with you on vacation. Although I think Philip's point was that you couldn't download new music. Although that's not entirely true either, if you take a laptop with you, or a Zune, you could still get new music.
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I wouldn't mind an Amazon MP3 App on my Windows Mobile phone. That would be great.
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Sorry, folks, but Amazon's mp3 operation is already bigger than Zune. It's iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody. Zune is not much of a competitor.
I'm confused after reading your post title. Nobody did explicitly mention that Zune was in second place.
Also, note that we're talking about mobile music downloads, not just general music downloads in the US market. There's a huge difference. Only the iTunes Store, Zune Marketplace, and now Amazon MP3, are part of self-contained ecosystems that include a single store with a mobile storefront and a single line of mobile devices. I wouldn't count Rhapsody To Go, because at the end of the day, it lacks that essential mobile storefront, and it requires a BYO device - keep in mind that the iPod isn't one of them, so that's effectively a huge chunk of potential users out of the picture.
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Sorry, folks, but Amazon's mp3 operation is already bigger than Zune. It's iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody. Zune is not much of a competitor.
I wouldn't say it isn't a competitor. I know a fair amount of individuals that purchase music through Zune Marketplace. I purchase a fair amount of Drum and Bass singles from the Zune Marketplace because I will find them non-DRM'd there weeks or months before Amazon and other services. On the other hand, for other MP3 purchases, I usually go to Amazon first.
I'm confused after reading your post title. Nobody did explicitly mention that Zune was in second place.
Darius, any attempt to reframe the competition so that no one else counts (it has to be a store, and mobile, and have its own device, and..., and... Is Zune disqualified for being on open Wifi networks only? Disqualifying Rhapsody because it doesn't work with iTunes but not disqualifying Zune for the same reason -- that put me on the floor laughing in pain.) is laughable and irrelevant to anyone actually looking at the competition in the marketplace. There are several mobile music store competitors that are likewise irrelevant: Vcast, etc...
I wouldn't say it isn't a competitor. I know a fair amount of individuals that purchase music through Zune Marketplace. I purchase a fair amount of Drum and Bass singles from the Zune Marketplace because I will find them non-DRM'd there weeks or months before Amazon and other services. On the other hand, for other MP3 purchases, I usually go to Amazon first.
Oooh, the editor of a Zune site knows people who have purchased from Zune Marketplace? Wow. Who said no one has ever bought from the ZM? I said no one is really treating the Zune as legitimate competition between the biggies. Hilarious how you admit that you yourself prefer to go to Amazon instead of Zune.
what I wish is that I could get non-DRM WMA. mp3 is inefficient junk.
If you're talking strictly about the efficiency of the codec, yes, WMA is a more efficient psycho-acoustic model. WMA allows lower bit-rate music to sound better because it's more efficient. But at what cost? MP3 is more compatible, and at sufficient bit-rates (256 kbps and higher) the advantages of WMA fade away rapidly. WMA is great for when you have limited storage, but that's not a problem in most cases any more...
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Darius, any attempt to reframe the competition so that no one else counts (it has to be a store, and mobile, and have its own device, and..., and... Is Zune disqualified for being on open Wifi networks only? Disqualifying Rhapsody because it doesn't work with iTunes but not disqualifying Zune for the same reason -- that put me on the floor laughing in pain.) is laughable and irrelevant to anyone actually looking at the competition in the marketplace. There are several mobile music store competitors that are likewise irrelevant: Vcast, etc...
dp, you've taken my post out of context.
Let's go back to basics. There's a market for everything: white vehicles, black vehicles, high-performance vehicles, vehicles in general, bread, jam, cereal, food in general, you get the idea. Now, let's revisit my original post. Notice that I explicitly mentioned "mobile music downloads" - that is, OTA music downloads on your mobile device. This is (or, at least, was supposed to be) the thread's focus. I'm certainly not denying that a market exists for general music downloads nor am I denying that competition in this market is widespread and fierce. I certainly do acknowledge that, and for such a market, I recognise that Rhapsody and many others are formidable forces.
If I wanted to break the mobile music downloads market down even further into regions and look at those outside the US, I'd probably drop Amazon.com, Zune, and many others off the list, leaving just iTunes and a few no-namers as the leaders. The point is, each is a market in itself, and each has its own set of participants.
At the end of the day, I do believe we're debating two completely different points, and it's probably not worth taking this further.
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In what world is Zune in second place?
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