Following tech with the consumer in mind » DRM

Paul’s Soapbox: DRM, 3G, Playstation Home

Paul Ellis — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:13:58 +0000

Paul’s Soapbox is a regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. This week’s subjects are all over the place: DRM, “3G” Wireless, and Playstation Home.

First award winner goes to DRM (digital restrictions rights management) for “How not to create a sustainable business model.” I don’t know how many of you consumers out there saw this, but Microsoft has decided to turn off the DRM services for the MSN Music Store. This means that anyone who bought leased music from MSN is effectively screwed. The music will still play on the machines they have authorized already, but when the computer stops, so will the music. And just like musical chairs, anyone who paid for that music will be left without a chair.

Now you may be saying to yourself, “Well who bought music from MSN? I want to know who these two people are.” But this has already happened with Google Video, Major League Baseball, MTV URGE, AOL Music Now, and Virgin Music Club. Somehow the mainstream technology media isn’t quite catching on to the realities of DRM. I don’t think that there is a sustainable business model for music ownership that includes DRM. Music subscription services are an exception because they don’t ever act like you own anything. Maybe that’s why I get my digital music elsewhere.

If DRM was the winner of the anti-business model, so-called 3G wireless service is the runner up. ComputerWorld recently reported on 3G data networks and while most of the review is generally positive there was one thing that stood out to me. AT&T and Verizon both cap their services at 5GB of data received per month, and word is Sprint will be following suit (they are actually capping it at 300MB if you are roaming!). At first 5GB might seem like a lot of data, but when you break it down that is not the case.

If a business user were to use the 3G service for 8 hours a day only on weekdays, they could average only 29MB per hour of data without going over. Considering that the TechCrunch homepage is 1.8MB by itself or about 1/16 of the hourly quota for a business user. Or put another way, your connection can only average 8KB/sec or you’ll go over. That is for only 20 days a month, for only 8 hours of the day. Heaven forbid someone used it everyday because then that is only 169MB for the whole day!

Last but not least is Playstation Home, which is soon to join Duke Nukem Forever as the world’s most famous vaporware (yes, I’ve heard some people have actually seen it, supposedly). For those not familiar with Playstation Home (also referred to as just Home), it is Sony’s total copy interpretation of Second Life The Sims Online a virtual world. It was originally announced in March 2007 and scheduled to come out in open beta in August 2007 and public release in October 2007.

Now I’m not really good at math yes I am but August is only five months after March, and we are now about fifteen months past that date, and there still hasn’t been a public beta. Later they promised a “Spring 2008″ delivery, only to announce in Spring 2008 that it would be coming out in Fall 2008. I don’t know if there is a solution to this problem for Sony other than to ship Home sooner rather than later, but you have to wonder what they were thinking when they made the announcement(s) about Home’s development timeframe. Any takers on it actually coming out in Fall 2008? Much less whether it will have been worth the wait?

The really amazing thing is, through all of the troubles the PS3 has gone through (and it really couldn’t be much worse) it is still a system people will consider buying. Talk about a powerful brand.

Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant.

Amazon MP3 Survey Asks Interesting Questions on Music Buying

Bob Caswell — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:38:26 +0000

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Amazon MP3, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. And I’m glad the Amazon MP3 team doesn’t think so either. Here’s a copy of an email I received from them asking me to fill out a survey. Check out some of the more interesting questions asked followed by commentary (after text of the email below):

Greetings from Amazon MP3,

As you have previously purchased music from Amazon MP3, we would like to ask for your participation in a short, anonymous survey. The survey asks about your music-related preferences and experiences with Amazon MP3, and should take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Your feedback is very important to us as we continue to enhance Amazon MP3 to better serve customer needs and interests.

The survey is active for a limited time only, so please respond as soon as possible. Just click the link below to begin. As our surveys are hosted by an external company, the link below does not lead to the Amazon.com site. Your information will be kept secure and confidential, and your name will not be associated with your answers. If the link is not active, or if you have concerns about authenticity and security, please type the Web address into your browser’s address bar.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/xxxxxxx

Thank you for taking the time to help improve Amazon MP3, and we appreciate your support!

Sincerely,
The Amazon MP3 Team

Here are some of the questions asked (I bolded my answers):

Why would you choose to buy digital music instead of a CD? (please pick your top reason)

To have the music immediately after purchase
Lower price
Can easily transfer to my MP3 player
Can buy individual songs, not the full album
Other (please specify):

It was difficult for me to specify just one reason for buying digital music, but I think “easy transfer to my MP3 player” has to be the top reason. I don’t listen to CDs anymore, so any purchase of a CD results in an extra step for me before I can listen to my newly purchased music. But some of the other reasons are just about as compelling.

How would you best describe your music discovery and purchasing habits with regards to Amazon MP3?

Discover and buy on Amazon MP3
Discover on Amazon MP3, buy elsewhere
Discover elsewhere, buy on Amazon MP3
Discover and buy elsewhere

Amazon’s site in general is way too busy. I have a hard time browsing on it even if I end up making purchases there after researching/discovering elsewhere.

Which technology-oriented websites do you regularly visit?

Techcrunch
Slashdot
Gizmodo
Boing Boing
Engadget
Wired News
CNET
I do not regularly visit technology-oriented websites
Other (please specify):

I visit all the sites listed but probably TechCrunch the most. Oh, and I couldn’t help but write in “TechConsumer” in the “Other” section…

Which social networking websites are you an active member of?

MySpace
Windows Live Spaces
Facebook
Friendster
LinkedIn
Classmates
I am not an active member of social networking websites
Other (please specify):

Amazon may have made a mistake by not defining “active” for this question. The two I selected I visit maybe weekly. But that’s much different usage than those that use them every hour.

Which following statements best describes your level of familiarity with MP3s?

I could describe its advantages and disadvantages
I could describe what it generally refers to
I am not familiar with the term

I’m pretty sure Amazon is hoping that few people will answer this question like I did. They are hoping to validate that MP3 is “good enough” for the masses even if plenty of better music formats exist.

Indicate the #1, #2 and #3 attributes you value most about Amazon MP3 (from the list):

MP3 downloads that play on any device (#3)
Music recommendations
Automatic import to my music library (#2)
Reliability of Amazon in general
Digital rights management-free (DRM-free) music (#1)
Offers the music I want
Ability to use my Amazon account
Low prices
One-click purchasing
Other (please specify attribute and rank):

Another tough decision, I like all the things listed above. But, first and foremost, I have to own my music (no DRM) and need its use to be as easy as possible (my #2 and #3 choices).

Is there anything you would like to see added or improved on Amazon MP3?

Why can’t I add Amazon MP3 items (single tracks or albums) to my Wishlist? As it stands, I have to use CDs for the Wishlist, which is kind of annoying.

Amazon MP3 Expanding Internationally, More DRM-Free in 2008

Bob Caswell — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:43:33 +0000

Amazon today has announced plans to take its DRM-free MP3 music store to countries beyond the United States. In the U.S., at least, Amazon MP3 is already the online music store of choice.

It’s hard to compete with the largest library (3.3 million songs from 270,000 artists) of restriction free music, much of which is priced lower than the going rate of $0.99/track. And it integrates seamlessly with iTunes (or other desktop music applications) plus works with pretty much any digital music player available.

This announcement comes just days after rumors of Yahoo considering opening an online music store, though Amazon has set the bar fairly high. At this point, any competition (including Apple) has to play catch up before I’d consider switching again.

For those curious as to which countries this might mean… Well, the press release doesn’t say explicitly. But reading between the lines of the last sentence (“The company is not disclosing a specific launch timeline for individual Amazon international websites”), the new offering is likely to be for those countries which already have their own separate Amazon website, namely: Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan.

See Amazon’s press release below:

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 27, 2008–Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that in 2008 the company will begin an international rollout of Amazon MP3, Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, including the PC, Mac(R), iPod(R), Zune(R), Zen(R), iPhone(TM), RAZR(TM), and BlackBerry(R). Amazon MP3 is the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as over 33,000 independent labels.

“We have received thousands of e-mails from Amazon customers around the world asking us when we will make Amazon MP3 available outside of the U.S. They can’t wait to choose from the biggest selection of high-quality, low-priced DRM-free MP3 music downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President of Digital Music. “We are excited to tell those customers today that Amazon MP3 is going international this year.”

Launched on Amazon.com in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s Biggest Selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.3 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256 kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device; organize their music using any music management application, such as iTunes(R) or Windows Media Player(TM); and burn songs to CDs for personal use.

Most songs available on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the over 3.3 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 bestselling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 bestselling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise. Buying and downloading MP3s from Amazon MP3 is easy. Customers can purchase downloads using Amazon 1-Click shopping, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, seamlessly add their MP3s to their iTunes(R) or Windows Media Player(TM) libraries.

The company is not disclosing a specific launch timeline for individual Amazon international websites.

Apple TV: Top 10 Reasons You Should Wait

Bob Caswell — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:36:28 +0000

I’m not usually one to go for the top 10 list method of discussing limitations of a product. But then again, products don’t usually have 10 weaknesses I care enough about to compile a list. Apple TV, on the other hand, falls into this category. And it’s not even a first generation product!

But to be fair, I should point out that this is a product I sincerely want to work. After all, I already use iTunes to manage my music, and the iPod is my music player of choice. Too bad, then, that Apple TV simply isn’t ready for prime time. Here are the top 10 reasons you should wait:

1. No TV Focus

Steve Jobs has confirmed that Apple TV will focus on movies rather than TV shows. This makes sense considering Apple’s scuffle with NBC last year but means no Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, or The Office for you. If the focus is shifting toward movies then expect TV show selection to go down, not up.

2. Older iPods

So the cool new feature that makes Apple TV different this time around is the fact that you can rent a movie, watch part of it on your TV and then finish the rest of it on your iPod. Oh wait, this feature is only good for owners of the current generation of iPods. You know, the generation that has been out less than five months. If Apple is going to play the our-stuff-only-works-with-our-stuff game, they surely can’t expect you to rebuy all their products each time they try to entice you with a new one.

3. Rental Time

So if you rent a movie, you have 30 days to start watching it. That seems fair. But once you start, you are required to finish the movie within 24 hours, a limitation which makes it nearly impossible to start a movie one evening and finish it the next evening. Of course, a workaround has been discovered but expect Apple to plug it shortly.

4. Rental Price

Blockbuster called: they want their pricing structure back. $3.99 per movie and $4.99 per HD movie seems fairly steep, especially considering that it doesn’t take much for Netflix to be a way better deal. If you watch more than two movies per month, why would you want to pay per movie?

5. No HD on PC

So the next generation of movie watching is to be in high definition (HD), and Apple seems to realize that. But HD movie rentals via Apple TV cannot be viewed or transferred on anything but your TV. Remember that nowadays most everyone’s computer has a screen that can take advantage of HD content (the same can’t be said for TVs yet).

6. Compatibility

This one is obvious and no different than what Apple has done in the past: Anything you purchase or rent can only be used with Apple software/hardware. But there is hope, after all. If iTunes can sell restriction-free music that can be played on something other than an iPod… who knows, maybe someday other media will follow suit. But I’m not holding my breath.

7. Selection

From the press release: “With iTunes Movie Rentals and Apple TV, users can just click a button on their remote to effortlessly rent movies from a catalog of over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video…” For anyone interested in watching more than summer blockbusters, here’s hoping these numbers rise quickly.

8. New Releases

First-run titles will be available via iTunes but 30 days after the DVD release. The irony here is that watching movies “instantly” rather than waiting for a movie in the mail (or running to Blockbuster) is supposed to be an advantage of Apple TV. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing the crowd that likes “instant” movies is probably the same crowd unlikely to wait first for 30 days. And remember that Netflix has instant content (like the hit show Heroes) that you can watch within 24 hours of it airing on TV.

9. Separate Box

Apple TV is, of course, a separate box you have to purchase for $229 (even after the price drop from $299, I still think it’s pricey, especially now that you can get HD DVD players for around $129). And Apple has no plans to incorporate CableCARDs, a DVD player, or pretty much any third-party equipment you might use. So it’s not as if buying Apple TV will allow you to consolidate your home theater equipment. The opposite is true.

10. No HD Purchases

That’s right, folks, HD content can only be rented at the $4.99 per movie fee.

[phpbay]dvd player(s), 10[/phpbay]

DRM Officially Dead for Music: Amazon Now Offers DRM-Free Tracks from All Four Major Labels

Bob Caswell — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:37:21 +0000

Just a few days after our coverage of DRM-free music options for 2008 comes news of Sony BMG now offering its music on Amazon restriction-free. Sony BMG represents artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Santana, and Justin Timberlake. And this makes Amazon the first online music store to offer DRM-free songs from all four major labels: Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal Music.

Sony has uploaded around 200,000 tracks to Amazon so far (the most actively purchased music), but the company’s entire catalog apparently will be uploaded over time. I reviewed Amazon MP3 when it first came out and switched to it from iTunes as my preference for buying music online.

Amazon MP3 is better (for me, at least) for the following reasons: it’s cheaper ($0.89/track), it’s all DRM-Free, it’s higher quality (256 kbps), it’s more accessible (MP3), and there are no switching costs (integrates seamlessly with iTunes). If you haven’t already, check out Amazon MP3 here.

See Amazon’s press release below:

SEATTLE–January 10, 2008–Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that DRM-free MP3 music downloads from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT will be available to customers on Amazon MP3, Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 digital music store where every song is playable on virtually any digital music-capable device, including PCs, Macs®, iPod®, Zune®, Zen®, iPhone™, RAZR™ and BlackBerry®. When SONY BMG is added later this month, Amazon MP3 will be the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels, as well as over 33,000 independent labels. Amazon MP3 customers will discover DRM-free MP3s from SONY BMG’s vast rosters of artists representing virtually every genre of music.

“We are excited to offer Amazon MP3 customers DRM-free MP3s from SONY BMG, which represents many of the most popular musicians from the past and present,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music. “Our Amazon MP3 customers will be able to choose from a full selection of DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels and over 33,000 independents that they can play on virtually any music-capable device.”

“We are excited to be working with Amazon as they continue to build new markets for digital music,” commented Thomas Hesse, President, Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. “We are constantly exploring new ways of making our music available to consumers in the physical space, over the internet and through mobile phones, and this initiative is the newest element of our ongoing campaign to bring our music to fans wherever they happen to be.”

Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers Earth’s Biggest Selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads, which now includes over 3.1 million songs from more than 270,000 artists. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software and is encoded at 256 Kbps to deliver high audio quality. Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs®, iPod®, Zune®, Zen®, iPhone™, RAZR™ and BlackBerry®; organize their music using any music management application such as iTunes® or Windows Media Player™; and burn songs to CDs for personal use.

Most songs available on Amazon MP3 are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the over 3.1 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 bestselling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 bestselling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise. Buying and downloading MP3s from Amazon MP3 is easy. Customers can purchase downloads using Amazon 1-Click shopping, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, seamlessly add their MP3s to their iTunes® or Windows Media Player™ libraries.

Get Ready for DRM-FREE 2008: Amazon, Napster, Sony, Yahoo Music

Bob Caswell — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:02:07 +0000

Last year around this same time I wrote on the then current companies killing DRM (Digital Rights Management, music with restrictions). Coincidentally, this year has the month of January giving us even more news on the battle-for-unrestricted-music front.

Here’s the latest news about music within the context of Amazon, Napster, Sony, and Yahoo:

Amazon

Amazon MP3 now offers DRM-free MP3s from Warner Music Group’s catalog, which makes Amazon’s MP3 download store the first to offer DRM-free music from Warner Music and brings Amazon’s library up to 2.9 million songs, all without restrictions. Warner’s catalog includes some of the most popular artists: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Madonna, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. And Amazon may eventually have something in the works with Yahoo (speculation, see Yahoo news below).

I reviewed Amazon MP3 when it first came out and found it superior to iTunes for music purchasing: it’s cheaper ($0.89/track), it’s all DRM-Free, it’s higher quality (256 kbps), it’s more accessible (MP3), and there are no switching costs (integrates seamlessly with iTunes and most other popular desktop music programs). If you haven’t already, check out Amazon MP3 here.

Napster

Napster will sell music downloads in the MP3 format starting in the second quarter of this year (ironically enough, the format that made Napster popular in the first place even if back then it was illegal). CEO Chris Gorog said the following:

“We projected a year ago that there would be a critical mass of support for MP3, and we’re pleased to see the music industry is beginning to support it… There’s now enough top-tier content out there. There’s little question that the broad adoption of MP3s will provide an uplift for the industry.”

Sony

Sony BMG, the music label that’s taken the longest to think of a solution that doesn’t involve DRM, will start offering DRM-free music very soon. Reports on this news are a bit conflicting, however. A Businessweek article started the buzz by claiming these songs would be available via Amazon MP3, starting with Justin Timberlake’s latest. But then, a date of January 15 was given as the beginning of Sony DRM-free music but with a twist:

You have to purchase a plastic card called the “Platinum Music Pass” for the album you’re interested in. These plastic cards are only available from retail stores and cost $12.99 (significantly more than Amazon or iTunes album purchases). You then have to visit MusicPass.com and enter a code to download the DRM free album you selected in the store. It looks like Best Buy and Target will be the first stores to start this experiment. Perhaps not the best DRM-free news but progress nonetheless.

Yahoo Music

Yahoo Music’s VP of Product Development Ian Rogers has been hinting at big news revolving around dramatic changes in Yahoo’s music model. He said, “We’re in the process of redefining what Yahoo! Music is, and making it the Music destination in Yahoo!’s successful image.” And then he explained that Yahoo is not a music retailer and probably won’t be anytime soon.

He had plenty more to say with the focus on merging all sorts of content within a music context:

“Today users are creating tremendous value and for the most part we’re ignoring it. They’re writing blogs about your artists, putting bios on Wikipedia, documenting last night’s concert on Flickr and video sharing sites, showing what songs are most popular by their behavior on Last.fm, building “box sets” on community sites, etc. How has the music industry leveraged this? What tools have you created to enable or encourage it?”

I agree with TechCrunch’s assessment that, “…it looks like Yahoo wants to spearhead an effort to create open standards around music buying, playing, managing and sharing… In one set of slides near the end of the presentation, he shows a use case where a user discovers music on Yahoo, links to purchase it at Amazon, and then manages it again back at Yahoo. My guess is this is exactly what Yahoo will be. They’ll abandon their subscription music service and promote third party music download sites like Amazon instead. But I also imagine they’ll do this via a set of open standards where any service can participate.”

Well, 2008 seems to be off to a good start with DRM-free music options. Now if only DRM-free could be extended to other forms of digital media (movies, etc.), maybe 2009? If only…

Make sure your computer parts are up to date so you can listen to streaming music and online music including your favorite songs on your PC!

Amazon MP3 One Ups Apple, Gets Warner Music MP3s DRM-free

Bob Caswell — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:27:38 +0000

Hot on the heels of news of Apple soon offering rental movies via iTunes, Amazon has some even better news (in my opinion). Another sign that DRM (Digital Rights Management, music with restrictions) is on its way out: Amazon MP3 now offers DRM-free MP3s from Warner Music Group’s catalog.

This makes Amazon’s MP3 download store the first to offer DRM-free music from Warner Music and brings Amazon’s library up to 2.9 million songs, all without restrictions. And Warner’s catalog includes some of the most popular artists: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Madonna, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.

I reviewed Amazon MP3 when it first came out and switched to it from iTunes as my primary method of buying music. In short, Amazon MP3 works well for me when compared to the competition: it’s cheaper ($0.89/track), it’s all DRM-Free, it’s higher quality (256 kbps), it’s more accessible (MP3), and there are no switching costs (integrates seamlessly with iTunes). If you haven’t already, check out Amazon MP3 here.

Here are the PR quotes from the two companies:

“Our customers are delighted with our DRM-free MP3 service. We have received thousands of emails from our customers since our September launch thanking us for offering the biggest selection of high-quality MP3 audio downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future,” said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President of Digital Music. “With the addition of great Warner Music Group content, our customers will discover even more of the music they love on Amazon MP3.”

“Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility, which is why we’re pleased to offer our artists’ music on Amazon MP3,” said Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group. “We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music. Amazon shares our vision with respect to offering feature-rich music based digital products, and we look forward to making available an array of exciting new digital products over time that will transform the relationship between and among consumers, labels and artists.”

Amazon MP3 Gets It Right: Cheaper, DRM-Free, Higher Quality, and No Switching Costs

Bob Caswell — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:40:58 +0000

So everyone and their dog is talking about Amazon’s announcement today to offer MP3 downloads. In brief, Amazon MP3 songs are DRM-free and start at $0.89/track with the top 100 best-selling albums priced no higher than $8.99. The store opened with 2 million songs from 80,000 artists. EMI and Universal are the two big labels on board. Song quality is even very high – 256 kbps. All of this, of course, is available via iTunes for $1.29/track or $9.99/album.

So I decided to give Amazon MP3 a try. The truth is, I buy most of my music from Amazon anyway. I hate DRM and am rarely in a hurry to get music. I [used to] order CDs via Amazon (with free shipping) and immediately rip them to my computer. I use iTunes for all my music organization but only use it to purchase new music when I’m interested in a single track (rather than a whole album).

My first move was to check out my Amazon wishlist to see which albums I have been thinking of purchasing. I came across Nine Inch Nails latest, Year Zero, priced at $9.99 as a CD. I searched for it at Amazon MP3 and found it priced for only $7.99! Curiosity about a new service plus an automatic 20% price drop equals me buying an album today.

The purchase process was very slick and simple. A one time download is required, but it downloads and runs in seconds after which the album begins downloading. Right away, Amazon MP3 detects what your default music platform is (iTunes for me) and copies and adds the new songs in the exact same way they would have been added had I purchased from iTunes directly. I do nothing to set this up.

I think Amazon will likely cannibalize plenty of its CD sales (and that’s just fine, as it’s where the industry is going anyway). But Apple should be worried. Sure, I love and use iTunes daily. But now more than ever I’m unlikely to be purchasing from it anytime soon. As a music retailer, Amazon offers a higher quality product for much less and without any switching hassle.

Upgrade your computer parts and access online music to listen to from your own PC. There are many songs and types of streaming music available!

Wal-Mart Now Offers DRM-Free Downloads But Still Has Issues with Firefox

Bob Caswell — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:19:14 +0000

div>Wal-Mart is trying to step up its competition with Apple iTunes. The retail giant, which is already the No. 1 seller of recorded music because of CD sales, will now sell digital downloads of songs without any copy protection (DRM) via walmart.com for 94 cents a track, or $9.22 an album. The service will launch with music from two of the major record labels: Universal Music and EMI.

The company plans to continue offering its existing WMA protected format for other music downloads, which cost 88 cents a track but won’t work with iPods and plenty of other digital music players. Here’s what Kevin Swint, Wal-Mart senior director for digital media, had to say, “As we consistently strive to help our customers shop smart at Wal-Mart, our new ‘DRM-free’ MP3 digital tracks give them the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value.”

Apple, of course, has its own DRM-free music offered at a $1.29 per track via iTunes. This is a tough call for me. I gave Wal-Mart a chance way back when (well, a couple years ago) and wasn’t that impressed (i.e., the $.11 savings over iTunes wasn’t worth the annoyance). And even now where the difference between a $1.29 and $.94 is a much greater spread — plus the music will actually work with my iPod — I’m still not sure the $.35 savings is enough for me to deal with something outside of iTunes for my digital music downloads.

Also, it doesn’t help that Wal-Mart gives me the following message on my first visit:

“We notice you’re not using Internet Explorer. Other browsers may be able to access our original Music Downloads store which has fewer user features than our latest version but offers the same music. We will be making enhancements to our updated version in the future to support the Firefox browser. If you want to take advantage of all the features in our updated design now, please get the latest version of Internet Explorer.”

That alone is enough reason for me to give up on trying Wal-Mart’s new service. So Apple has me right where it wants me. I use iTunes and iTunes only at this point for my music downloads, though the majority of my music (and everyone’s, incidentally) comes from CDs purchased and then ripped.

Why I Switched to iTunes from Musicmatch 5 Years & 5,000 Songs Later

Bob Caswell — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:20:13 +0000

I’ve always been one to root for the underdog. In this case, I picked Musicmatch five years ago and even skipped out on the iPod craze by using another brand of digital music player. But for all my time spent with Musicmatch, I was somewhat disconnected from that group of friends big into using iTunes. So I decided to give iTunes a test run, and now I don’t think I can go back. Here’s why:

Truth be told: I found iTunes to be a better “match” with me and my music (horrible pun, I know). My original excuses for using Musicmatch over iTunes don’t even exist anymore; a lot has changed in five years. I used to boldly declare, “…but Musicmatch has more advanced features.”

The funny thing is that I remember the excuse, and I remember playing around with “advanced features” at one point. But five years later, when I switched, I found I could do everything in iTunes that I could do in Musicmatch and even more! Some examples of what I now use (and subsequently don’t think I could live without) in iTunes that don’t exist or at best are clunky in Musicmatch are the following features:

My Top Rated
Recently Added
Recently Played
Top 25 Most Played
Intuitive Search for Artist / Album / Song
Smart Playlists
Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Columns
Support for Last.fm

And how about the transition process, you might ask? How long does it take for iTunes to index and organize 5,000 songs? Well, I timed it: 8 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention that iTunes is free and the Musicmatch equivalent costs money (the free version didn’t have certain features I wanted)? And now it doesn’t hurt that iTunes is offering EMI songs DRM-free, though I made my decision to switch before this announcement. I generally refuse to purchase DRM music. But now I may have a reason to pay for downloads rather than the easily rippable CD equivalent.

In any event, you may wonder why I didn’t try iTunes sooner. I am wondering that too…

Note: This article is cross-posted at BobCaswell.com.

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