Zune Pass Now Offers 10 Tracks Per Month to Keep

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2008/11/19/zune-pass-now-with-tracks-to-keep.aspx' target='_blank'>http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2008...ks-to-keep.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The week just keep getting better for Zune owners: today we're announcing some amazing enhancements for Zune Pass. Starting today at about 11:00PM pacific time, everyone with a Zune Pass gets to keep 10 tracks from Zune Marketplace each month. These 10 tracks will be yours to keep, forever. Each month that you keep your Zune Pass current, you'll get another 10 tracks credited to your account. All this for the same price as your Zune Pass today: 14.99/month, or about the price of one CD per month. So each month as you discover and download new music in Zune Marketplace, you'll be able to keep 10 of your favorite tracks. One quick note: there is no roll-over, so make sure you collect your 10 tracks each month."</em></p><p>The blog post goes on to say that approximately 90% of the 4 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace are available in MP3 format. I don't know if that's something that has just changed tonight though, because the last time I checked I had a really hard time finding MP3s in the songs that I wanted - and that's why I purchase most of my digital music from Amazon's MP3 store. Still, I'm all for DRM-free music, so it's great to see them focusing hard on getting more MP3s into their catalog.</p><p>Back to the big news though: getting to keep approximately $10 worth of music per month, and getting rented access to a huge collection of music, all for $15 per month, is compelling. What I'm not sure about is what format the 10 tracks you get are - I suspect their in WMA format and DRM-laden, which makes them less interesting, but I suppose it's better than nothing. The Zune team isn't the first I've heard offering a subscription service with tracks to keep (<a href="http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/8194_Nokia_launches_Comes_with_Musi.php" target="_blank">check out what Nokia is doing</a>), but I think it's a first out of the major players in the subscription industry - which I guess really only consists of Rhapsody and Napster at this point with pretty much every other player dying off.</p><p>So what do you think? Is this enough to make you want to sign up for a Zune Pass if you've been resisting up until now?</p>

[David Tucker]

That's pretty nifty! :D Man, someone at MS woke up this week and decided they just wanted to make everyone happy. Zune updates, this, NXE...what's next??

[Darius Wey]

The blog post goes on to say that approximately 90% of the 4 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace are available in MP3 format. I don't know if that's something that has just changed tonight though, because the last time I checked I had a really hard time finding MP3s in the songs that I wanted - and that's why I purchase most of my digital music from Amazon's MP3 store. Still, I'm all for DRM-free music, so it's great to see them focusing hard on getting more MP3s into their catalog.

To my understanding, this is new. There's a rumour that Apple is now engaged in discussions with the same distributors in hopes of having DRM-free versions of their tunes on the iTunes Store. Yep, the store wars are on. :D

So what do you think? Is this enough to make you want to sign up for a Zune Pass if you've been resisting up until now?

My guess is whatever format they're available in on the Marketplace is the format you get to keep. It would seem odd for Microsoft to have a separate library of DRM-laden WMAs just for this purpose, although I've seen stranger things before.

If signing up for a Zune Pass wasn't such an arduous task outside North America, I'd be all over it.

[Alber1690]

Extremely tempted now....extremely! :D

[Derek Snyder]

The 10 you can keep will not be DRM-laden. Again, 90%+ of the catalog is DRM-free MP3 and that applies to the songs you can keep.

[mcwilliams132]

Make it $10/mo and I'd be sure to jump on it; I'm cheap like that.

In the mean time, I have some eMusic month long/30 free song trials to use up.

The zune guys at Social Circle state:

Social Circle (Inside the Circle): Hot News for Zune Pass Users (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SocialCircle/~3/459196207/hot-news-for-zune-pass-users.html)

"Those of you with Zune Passes are about to love life. You’re now gonna be able to keep 10 s ongs free during each month that your Zune Pass remains current. That’s right! For each month that you’re Zune Pass is active, you’ll be able to keep 10 songs, at no additional charge… free.. like, you can burn it to CD and everything!"

So I'm guessing that your 10 free tracks won't have DRM attached. At least the majority won't.

[Stinger]

This is the kind of thing is what would tempt me to swap. Good work, Microsoft.

[onlydarksets]

Nice job, MS.

[Jason Dunn]

The 10 you can keep will not be DRM-laden. Again, 90%+ of the catalog is DRM-free MP3 and that applies to the songs you can keep.

In talking with Cesar Menendez last night, whether or not the tracks have DRM will depend on the tracks you pick - if the track is in MP3, there's obviously no DRM. But if the track you pick is only available in WMA format, it will have DRM on it. You'll be able to burn a CD, and use it like you purchased it, but there's still DRM on it that could be turned off at some point in the future like all those other DRM servers...so you take your chances.

Let's remember here that even if 90% of the catalog is DRM-free, we're still talking about 400,000+ tracks that have DRM on them, and those tracks may very well be most of the top albums. It's easy to brag about being DRM free when it comes to old obsure music that nobody wants - it's quite another to have the top 100 songs in MP3 format, which is what Amazon offers.

Until the Zune catalog is 100% DRM free, I'm going to remain sceptical about the number of tracks in MP3 format.

[David Tucker]

Its definitely not 90% of the top tracks but I do notice more and more of my favorite artists have MP3 tracks available.

[David Tucker]

I have a friend who has been waffling between the iPod and Zune and this was her response when I told her about this news:

Oh I like that. I was leaning towards an ipod but now I have to consider my options again

I think as people find out about this, its going to generate very positive reactions. If you buy at least a CD every month then this is a huge value add. I'm not actually sure it will give me much other than the ability to put it on CD sometimes but it is a pretty big psychological thing.

[fmcpherson]

How do you know which songs you get to keep?

[David Tucker]

How do you know which songs you get to keep?

You get to pick :)

[grommet]

Basically, it's just 10 track purchase credits you get per month that you can use on any available content. Go to the Marketplace and right click 'buy' or 'add to cart' any content that's available... yes, including content that's not available via subscription.

The "keep 10 tracks" statement is a little wrong and seems to confuse people.

[David Tucker]

That makes it even better actually...wow. Just keeping 10 subscription tracks is a nice thing to be able to say...but to be able to grab even the ones not available via subscription is pretty awesome.

[Jason Dunn]

...yes, including content that's not available via subscription.

Wow, now THAT impresses me, because it actually enhances the value of the subscription service overall, allowing you to access (and keep!) music that you can't get normally via subscription. Nice. :)

[nook]

How do I use the 10 credits that I have with my Zune Pass? I don't see any credits.

[Neil Enns]

It looks like they are basically song credits. Add a song to your cart for purchase (right click on the song in the market place and pick buy). The resulting dialog says "NO CHARGE" and at the bottom says "This purchase will use 1 of your song credits."

So basically, it's even better than "keep 10". It's buy 10 for free. AWESOME.

I *heart* my Zune Pass.

Neil

[inteller]

Microsoft needs to go ahead and buy Netflix. I'd like to stream all the music and videos I can eat for $20 a month (and keep 10). It looks like right now I'm going to need to shell $9 a mo for Netflix and if I decide to spring for the Zune Pass that is another $15. Either that or Microsoft needs to add an all you can stream video option to Zune Pass.

I've read blogs where people said they would dump netflix if Microsoft buys them....but dump them and go to what? Blockbuster? Yeah right.

Microsoft could dominate the media supscription market in one fell swoop if they bought netflix.

[David Tucker]

While it would be great...its not entirely neccessary to me since the Netflix solution is well integrated in the NXE. I would not be opposed to that at all though.

[inteller]

I guess then another option would be to get all the marketplaces merged into one so I could use a Zune Pass on my Xbox. The fact I have to go over to my computer to download a bunch of zune pass content and then play it on the xbox is cumbersome.

I wish netflix would buy cinemanow. They already have the starz content from Vongo. They just need to get cinemanow and merge the libraries.

There needs to be some considerable consolidation in the content subscription market.

[Phillip Dyson]

I wish netflix would buy cinemanow. They already have the starz content from Vongo. They just need to get cinemanow and merge the libraries.

There needs to be some considerable consolidation in the content subscription market.

Didn't Blockbuster purchase CinemaNow? I bet MS or Netflix could get it cheap.

On another note, I have to say that for the first time I'm considering the Zune Pass. I'm an ownership advocate and this solution really meets my needs. The ability to sample and listen to anything available and purchase what I want to keep.

My only concern is how can I tell what music in my library is rented and which music I own. Currently my Purchased content and Zune content (Freebies and Podcasts Only) are in two different locations.

If I gave up my subscription in the future how do I purge everything that doesn't belong. e.g. The subscription content.

It would be great if the credits could be used on the video content too. Even if it took more than one credit.

[Jason Dunn]

If I gave up my subscription in the future how do I purge everything that doesn't belong. e.g. The subscription content.

Two methods:

1) First, since you said you had your subscription content in a separate location (the Zune does this by default too actually) you could just delete the content from that folder.

2) There's a "purge subscription content" option somewhere in the Zune software...can't recall where, but I'm pretty sure it's there. :)

[David Tucker]

I'm an ownership advocate and this solution really meets my needs.

See, this I've never understood...and it seems like the common tack most take when they don't like the subscription model. They actually advocate owning the music. Now I don't know if that's what you truly mean but when you say you're an advocate...its like you think someone like me should abandon subscription and buy everything.

If you don't mean it that way, that's fine, but many do and I've never understood why some people think the best solution for me would be to spend thousands of dollars and abandon a model I truly get extreme value from.

My only concern is how can I tell what music in my library is rented and which music I own. Currently my Purchased content and Zune content (Freebies and Podcasts Only) are in two different locations.

You could probably move it yourself to whatever directory you wanted to ensure no confusion. Probably not a bad idea really.

If I gave up my subscription in the future how do I purge everything that doesn't belong. e.g. The subscription content.

Just go delete the files...and if you are keeping it all seperate that should make it easy.

It would be great if the credits could be used on the video content too. Even if it took more than one credit.

Absolutely...maybe one day. :)

[onlydarksets]

Subscription music is stored in a separate folder, I believe.

[David Tucker]

BTW, I just want to clarify that if it appears I come across strongly about subscription music, it is a subject I am obviously passionate about since it changed my music listening experience in a tremendous way. But as the text doesn't have emotions so I may appear to be more emotional about it than I really am...such as my above post. Please be assured that I'm just asking a question there and nothing more. :)

[Ed Hansberry]

Microsoft needs to go ahead and buy Netflix.
No. Here is why MS does NOT need to buy Netflix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0

They'd tie it to Windows Live ID's soon enough and they'd redo the website every few months to the point of not being able to find anything.

[Phillip Dyson]

David, when I meant "advocate" I meant for myself. As to others I say each to his own. ;)
I really like this hybrid model. I was listening to Buzz Out Loud today and they put it this way...

If you price your tracks at $.99 each, then its like getting $10 dollars a month to buy music. Then your only paying $4.95 a month for your subscription. That's a paraphrase but it captures the somewhat spirit of it. <shrug>

When I said that I keep my Zune content in a separate its because the Zune software allows to create a directory for Zune content. This doesn't give me the ability to distinquish between purchases, subscriptions, or freebies for that matter. I could of course do it manually.

[inteller]

No. Here is why MS does NOT need to buy Netflix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0

They'd tie it to Windows Live ID's soon enough and they'd redo the website every few months to the point of not being able to find anything.


well, LiveID is oneof the best things to happen to the internet. I HATE signing up for every single site that I want to interact with (this one included).

[David Tucker]

David, when I meant "advocate" I meant for myself. As to others I say each to his own. ;)

Yeah, I only asked because I have actually had people tell me that I shouldn't like subscription music and I'm doing the wrong thing by using it. :rolleyes:

I really like this hybrid model. I was listening to Buzz Out Loud today and they put it this way...

That's a paraphrase but it captures the somewhat spirit of it. <SHRUG>

When I said that I keep my Zune content in a separate its because the Zune software allows to create a directory for Zune content. This doesn't give me the ability to distinquish between purchases, subscriptions, or freebies for that matter. I could of course do it manually.

That's how I think of it too, really. Its a huge value-add. As for keeping your subscription music seperate...that's unneccessary. There is an option in settings to remove all subscription music. So you'll be fine.