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DigitalMusic posts

Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iTunes

Digital Music Vendor Showdown

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Dec 20th, 2006

Wired has a good article up about the various digital music vendors: Urge, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic and iTunes. They compare and rate the services. In the end, they chose iTunes as their editor's pick, pointing out that although iTunes has no subscription plan at this time, its combination of easy-to-use shopping plus the huge catalog of music, TV and video makes iTunes the most compelling digital vendor. At the bottom of the pack was Napster with its three-device playback restrictions and limited device compatibility. eMusic won on pricing (about $0.25 apiece, if you buy all the tracks you're allowed) and their DRM-free tunes.

Tags: Digital Music, DigitalMusic, eMusic, iTunes, Music, Napster, Rhapsody, Urge

Filed under: iTS, Internet, Internet Tools

Napster is now free... kinda

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on May 1st, 2006



The big news of the day regarding your local digital music purveyor is that Napster has announced that it is now free. Sort of. After you register for an account you can listen to any of their 2 million tracks (in their entirety) five times, the sixth time you are prompted to either buy the track or subscribe to Napster.

I think this is a brilliant move on Napster's part, though I doubt it will really help them that much. However, I do hope that this forces the iTunes Music Store to do something similar (those 30 second clips just don't cut it).

Tags: digital music, DigitalMusic, free, mp3, napster

Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iTunes

Napster points finger at Microsoft for iTunes market share

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Mar 2nd, 2006

Napster's CEO, Chris Gorog, has pointed a finger at Microsoft for the dominance of the iTunes iPod combination in the digital music market. The frustrated CEO is upset with Microsoft's DRM technology and its relationship with hardware manufacturers, commenting on what many feel is the root of iPod competitors'  problem: “It’s a lot more complex to get organized properly than it is to build one device and one service as Apple has done." While the debate surrounding whether Apple should license their iTunes DRM or open iPod hardware platform has many layers, there is certainly something to be said with how solid Apple is able to build this platform simply because they manage it from start to finish.

Check out the rest of the Reuters article for interviews from both Napster and Real on the state of the digital music market, as well as a humorous prediction from Gorog: "Ultimately, the consumer electronics giants ... are all going to come to this Windows Media party," he said. "This is really going to be the ubiquitous format."

[via iLounge]

Tags: competition, digital music, DigitalMusic, iPod, iTunes, market, Napster, Real

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