Buy.com launches BuyMusic.com, 0.79 cents a song, but restricted

Earlier we reported that Buy.com would launch a
music download service that could compete with the Apple iTunes
website. The Apple site allowed people to purchase songs without a monthly
fee and asked 99 cents a song. Buy.com does now the same with BuyMusic.com, but even asks 79 cents for some songs. Both
sites use technology to protect users from sharing the files on Peer to Peer
networks or distribute them in huge quantities.

Apple used an AAC codec,
Buy.com relies on Microsoft Window Media 9 and its Digital Rights Management
(DRM) system. The record labels have set the restrictions which are divided in
downloads, transfers to portable players and burns. The site offers both
individual songs as albums and is only available US citizens using a Windows
computer and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

All five majors and the indie deals all have the same basic understanding that we are going to take the music, download it to a hard drive and be able to transfer it to a CD or a digital music player. But they have different rules of usages per label," Blum said. "Some are as flexible as burning 10 disks, and some are three. It really depends on the label and the artists." BuyMusic.com's terms of sale also shut out several major digital music players from receiving downloads. The company specifies that devices are allowed to store digital music files and play them back in analog form but must not be able to transfer them on to other electronic devices. For example, consumers with an Archos device, an iPod competitor, would not be able download music because that system allows them to transfer music to other devices. Apple's iTunes site doesn't face a similar issue because iPods have a built-in block against that capability.

Not only can you download music, you can also review songs
and listen to them before you buy. The new service is seen as an opportunity to
boost online music sales and expectations are high. The question is, will
Windows users take their wallet out as much as Apple users, time will tell. Also
notice the how to use the service which is shown by a good looking
blonde.

Source: News.com