eMusic,
the 2nd most successful music download service after iTunes and the world's
largest retailer of independent music has just launched to the European market,
making music available from around 8,500 independent music labels. The
music service has a fairly strong competitive advantage over DRM based music
services in that its music is delivered free of restrictive DRM, thus allowing
playback on virtually every MP3 player on the market, including Apple's iPod series.
The service is available in a choice of three
subscriptions; offering up to 40, 65 or 90 downloads per month. Any
further music can be purchased for 25p per song or just under 1/3 that of an
iTunes single. Unlike the subscription services offered by other music
services such as Napster, music downloaded as part of the eMusic subscription
will not expire and may be written to CD or transferred to any equipment capable
of playing MP3s.
While the European president of eMusic, Steve
McCauley is not against DRM, they are actually against technology that restricts
what customers can do with their music. Thanks to GristyMcFisty for
letting us know
about this news:
The subscription-based site will offer MP3 recordings that work on all digital music players, including Apple's iPod. But eMusic has not struck deals with major record labels, who say their music must carry digital restrictions. eMusic plans to sell music across Europe, and has employed music journalists to help confused customers navigate their way through its varied collection. |
Unfortunately, while eMusic is taking the right approach
by not treating its customers as criminals, it is a pity no major record labels
are willing to strike a deal with eMusic despite already having 8,500
independent labels and running successfully for over five years in the US.
Feel free to discuss about eMusic and other online music
services on
our forum.
Source: BBC News - Technology
