MusicMatch vs. ITMS

[Vector]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yho...o&guid={C9BE6E5A-E784-4070-8419-B27F703857FB}

I just saw this article about musicmatch's new service and it could be a challenge to the windows version of itms once it is released. The service has nearly the same exact pricing and distibution models as the itms. All songs -over 200,000- are .99 each and have reasonable digital rights managment. The sevice does not require any subscription either.

 

[iJon]

i still think apple will have the best, because of their control of it and use of aac instead of windows media player. they can control the drm and make it as reasonable as the mac version. honestly with the music ive downloaded i have never seen the drm. i cliked a cd, said buy. it downloaded and i listened to it, i plugged my ipod in and it went straight to it i have a feeling nobody will be able to match that ease of use with the use of wmp and microsoft. guess we will wait and see.

iJon

 

[howard]

does anyone know...for the numbers just how many songs are on itms now?...it would be nice to have a ticker of some sort...

and also how many downloads now?

 

[Vector]

Originally posted by howard
does anyone know...for the numbers just how many songs are on itms now?...it would be nice to have a ticker of some sort...

and also how many downloads now?

I believe the last reported totals were over 250,000 songs and over 10 mil downloads which apple claimed in an early september press release.

 

[GeeYouEye]

Did they say 250,000? I don't demeber thay (please excuse the bad typing... i'm one hand down w/a sprained wrist in a splint), but I'd think, given how many they add each week, they'd ahve more by now. Go to the "Just added" section for this week... there's a ton (including some bands that don't actually exist, such as Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes... think Star Wars Cantina)

 

[rueyeet]

It looks like MusicMatch beat Apple to Windows with an iTMS-like solution. BuyMusic doesn't count in its current incarnation, though it seems like all of its confusing BS will get fixed too. So once again, it'll come down to which format or software you prefer.

Personally, I'll take iTunes over MusicMatch, having used both, and I'll take the iPod over ANYTHING else. I also wouldn't touch anything in the WMA format with a ten-foot pole, especially with DRM added. But I suspect that a lot of Windows folks who use WMA and MusicMatch already won't ever need to look at iTMS for Windows now.

 

[alia]

Well... MusicMatch still uses Windows Media format, so it won't be seeing any of my business. The ipod doesn't support Windows Media format, and I wouldn't install 9 on my machine even if it did. Microsoft's licensig agreement for that application is insane.

Alia

 

[NavyIntel007]

With the millions of ipods selling like furbies, why on earth are there still companies pushing the WMA format? People with ipods aren't going to buy it.

If you want to compete with Apple you have to release an AAC format. People are not going to stop buying the iPod for your $1 song downloads.

 

[mac15]

But say if Microsofts WMA9 was rectified as an industry standard wouldn't Apple have but no choice to support the format in QT? Since they follow the industry and with M$ pushing the format anythings possible

 

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by mac15
But say if Microsofts WMA9 was rectified as an industry standard wouldn't Apple have but no choice to support the format in QT? Since they follow the industry and with M$ pushing the format anythings possible

i think realistically AAC has already dominated the main market, Apple has magic when it comes to quicktime, it's always above and beyond the others... Real and MS have tried to compete, and they've gained some ground, but especially as people learn more about digital restraints, the wind will blow the way of aac...

pnw

 

[mac15]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
i think realistically AAC has already dominated the main market, Apple has magic when it comes to quicktime, it's always above and beyond the others... Real and MS have tried to compete, and they've gained some ground, but especially as people learn more about digital restraints, the wind will blow the way of aac...

pnw

Yeah but with many MAJOR music services using the format and M$ themselves trying to push it into Hollywood. I'm sure its only a matter of time before something this bad could happen. I don't see Jobs saying yes we support but what if the inevitable happened?

 

[Heltik]

Microsoft trying to push Windows media player into Hollywood? Surely that would require the kind of pro-level compression promised by Pixlet? With Steve Jobs already having a foot in the door, so to speak, with Pixar, isn't that set to become the next standard for video compression?

Besides, who uses a PC for creative work?

And does anyone have any updated news on Pixlet at all?

Cheers.