Since the time the leading independent music and entertainment retailer in the US Tower Recorders started off about 45 years, they aimed to offer the widest catalogue of music to choose from in virtually every popular physical audio medium that was available. In fact, they were even one of the first retailers to offer music online via its website back in 1995 as audio samples in the Real Audio Codec. They also ran a 99c per tune download service using the Liquid Audio DRM codec, long before iTunes and the other competitors out today.
Now they
aim to compete with other music download services by partnering with Puretracks to unveil a store with songs encoded at 192kbps, a fair improvement in sound quality over the 128kbps bitrate that is used by most other music download services. The store features a large catalogue of music covering a wide range of genres and offers 30 second samples of each song for previewing. Like iTunes, tracks can be purchased for 99¢ each or US$9.99 an album. Music is encoded in the WMA DRM codec and can be written to CD or be transferred to any "PlaysForSure" certified equipment players, but not the iPod series. To help promote their online store, they will also provide access to exclusive/bonus downloadable tracks with certain CDs sold in-store or online.
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For over 45 years, Tower has strived to offer its customers the best selection of music available in every format imaginable. As one of the first retailers to move online in 1995, Tower soon began streaming RealAudio samples on its Tower.com site and selling 99 cent digital downloads in the Liquid Audio format well before the current craze. Tower's digital media strategy has progressed considerably in the past year by adding TouchView interactive digital music kiosks to all of its retail stores, partnering with MySpace.com for "Secret Shows," and launching the first podcasting network by a traditional retailer at TowerPod.com in March. The launch of Tower Records Digital marks the next step in maintaining Tower's proud tradition of retailing music and entertainment, while rounding out Tower's comprehensive digital media strategy. Any way that you want it, Tower Records continues to be the best choice for music. The full rather lenghty article can be read here. |
With the vast improvement in hard drive capacities, Internet bandwidth and pricing since the launch of iTunes back in 2003, it is a pity that other music download services are not willing to offer music in a higher bit rate, even for new releases. In fact, this is one lesson the music industry can learn from, especially since the Russian music stores they are against all start at 192kbps with their most dreaded site, AllOfMP3 offering many albums as lossless tracks!
Feel free to discuss about digital music download services on our forum.
Source: Yahoo Financial News
