Yahoo News: "Microsoft Software Drives New Online Music Offerings"

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=575&ncid=738&e=12&u=/nm/20040716/wr_nm/media_janus_dc' target='_blank'>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=575&ncid=738&e=12&u=/nm/20040716/wr_nm/media_janus_dc</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Hoping to put a dent in the popularity of Apple Computer Inc.'s music download service, online music subscription providers are readying services that allow users to shift rented songs to portable digital music players. If the offerings catch on, it would mark a victory for Web music providers such as Napster, MusicNow, MusicNet, AOL and for Microsoft Corp., which is providing the software designed to ensure that the enhanced subscription-based services can be offered without opening a new front for digital piracy."</i><br /><br />Interesting move. This would eliminate one reason why I have stayed away from subscription services, which don't allow music to be copied or transferred to other devices. What's the point of "renting" music if I can't take it with me? <br /><br />The question is...will this help the proliferation and growth of the online music subscription business model? Or does this signal a last desperate move my subscriber services to stave off the increasingly successful legal music download industry?

[James Fee]

Personally I can't imagine why anyone would "rent" music. I'd rather "own" it. *shrug*

Do people really rent music? :confused totally:

[sylvangale]

A subscription service, such as Real Rhapsody, allows you to listen to a multitude of albums in full with no limit for a monthly fee of about $10 (1st 3 months $5). There is quite an abundance of music available to listen to. The only catch is you can't take it with you. You have to log into the service on a computer to listen. Real Rhapsody does give you the option to burn a CD for $79 per song. The songs from Real are supposed to be CD quality though and there are many songs that you cannot burn. There is a 14 day trial at least and the $5 a month thing isn't bad to start. Not sure if I'll keep it. It is well designed. I love the descriptions of the different genre/styles of music and history behind artists that is there when your browsing through music.