Friday, March 19, 2004
Microsoft Prepares to Launch Music Store
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 05:10 PM
"Microsoft said Friday that the second half of the year will see the launch of its online music store, a long-expected entry into an increasingly crowded business dominated by Apple Computer's iTunes. The software giant this week began offering sneak peaks of the service to independent record labels at the South by Southwest trade show in Austin, Texas. Though Microsoft remains mum about specific details, this week's dog and pony show signals the company's heightened ambitions to enter the world of online music sales with a bang.
Microsoft will promote its music store primarily through its MSN.com Web portal, according to company spokeswoman Lisa Gurry. Visitors will be able to sign up via MSN and browse a catalog of songs and albums to purchase and download onto their computers. Gurry declined to comment on pricing or on the number of songs Microsoft plans to initially release on the service."
I'm pretty excited about this, because I'm much more inclined to put up with DRM on WMA files than on AAC, because I have nothing that plays AAC files. Of course, with my luck, it won't be available to Canadians at launch. :roll:
Microsoft will promote its music store primarily through its MSN.com Web portal, according to company spokeswoman Lisa Gurry. Visitors will be able to sign up via MSN and browse a catalog of songs and albums to purchase and download onto their computers. Gurry declined to comment on pricing or on the number of songs Microsoft plans to initially release on the service."
I'm pretty excited about this, because I'm much more inclined to put up with DRM on WMA files than on AAC, because I have nothing that plays AAC files. Of course, with my luck, it won't be available to Canadians at launch. :roll:
