What is Digg?96 Comments
- Steelfox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+99MSN had a music store?
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+71So Zune's first victim in the online music war is...MSN Music? ;)
- wingnut21, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36"Microsoft has let down all the hardware vendors that support Microsoft's Plays For Sure as media from the Marketplace will only play on 1 device: the Zune."
*****. Imagine buying a CD that only worked in brand X's players. Ridiculous. Apple started this bad practice, but having it playable in multiple players helped Microsoft's image. Now the only thing that sets Microsoft apart in the music business is... brown. - mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19"microsoft dragged all of these other loser companies along, letting them invest millions in the plays4sure platform and then flushing the whole thing down the toilet."
Totally. Remember all those small VB6 companies creating a range of ActiveX widgets? - FBMGriever, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22Actually the Zune has an FM-Tuner built into it...
http://reviews.cnet.com/Microsoft_Zune_30GB_black/4505-6490_7-32068976.html - fronkman, on 10/12/2007, -19/+36you know, I love how for YEARS, the apple bashers complained about the ipod. they said
-it doesnt have an FM radio
-it only works with itunes
-you can only buy music from one store
-it wont play videos
-it doesnt have a replaceable battery
gosh, look at the zune. no radio, only works with WMP (and on top of that only works in windows, at least the ipod works on macs and windows), only one store, no replaceable battery....
because it isn't the ipod that somehow makes those things not terrible flaws?
personally i think the worst part is that microsoft screwed so many other companies in the process. at least the whole time apple made it clear that they owned the hardware, software and the store. microsoft dragged all of these other loser companies along, letting them invest millions in the plays4sure platform and then flushing the whole thing down the toilet. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18I like my 8-track, its bitchin.
- dotdan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Videogames are a poor example. Games NEED to be made for certain systems.. when music is recorded, it can be converted to formats which will play on any system. The limitation is arbitrary.
- matija, on 10/12/2007, -11/+24zuned to failiure
- mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -21/+32Microsoft is setting their Zune up for failure. But then again, whoever "buys" music from their store is probably pussy enough to be happy playing it only on Zunes. Like those iTunes store pussies.
And this comment is going into negatives for sure. - archer75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10There are a ton of other music services that use "plays for sure". This is nowhere near the end for other hardware vendors. Most people didn't even use MSN music anyways.
This is no big deal. - consonance, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Everyone seems to be goading Microsoft about shutting down MSN Music. I don't really think it's a big deal. Microsoft is closing a store that wasn't even making a zero economic profit. A zero economic profit means that you not only cover your expenses, but you are making enough money to cover the revenue you could have made if you did something else. Even if Microsoft made a profit, they could've made more money if they did something else. Why do I think this? Let me tell you:
If you've bought any songs from MSN Music, please reply to this comment. - themastersb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11What's MSN Music?
- rypaintD, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I guess it is. At least they are starting to phase out some of their music services. They have MSN Music, they are making Zune Music, they have Urge, why don't they just pick ONE already!
- sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Funny. The flash ad on the page I brought up was for the 2d Gen iPod Nano. Heh.
- nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8the flaw in your argument is that owning an iPod or Zune != buying DRMd music from the ZM or iTS.
- mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9People also pay to download illegal music ;)
www.allofmp3.com
I'm just waiting for emusic.com to accept debit card payments (EC-Karte,eg.) - archer75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm sure they'd all love to. But the RIAA won't allow it.
- mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Where were you all this time?
iTunes store crossed more than a billion downloads months ago... - Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The big difference is that Apple took the risk in the hardware market, and reaped the rewards. Microsoft let all the hardware partners take the risk, and charged them a licensing fee to use the "Plays For Sure" technology. And rather than stick it out with them, as soon as the risks didn't return, they screwed them over. If they had actually invested the marketing money and effort they had earmarked for Zune on Plays For Sure, it might have actually succeeded.
Microsoft has never done well with direct competition; they always like to let OEMs duke it out and take the risks for them while charging them for licensing fees. Their only two ventures into direct hardware competition are the XBOX and the Zune, both of which are loss leaders that MS will throw billions into for years, with no good chance that they'll ever turn a profit. - colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Cingular just signed a deal with ALL plays for sure services and no-DRM services. And Crapple doesn`t even HAVE a phone. Just a pipe-dream. Advantage MSFT.Actually...Crapple just got TKO`d."
What?
a) Microsoft just dropped Plays For Sure support.
b) Cingular still has and has always had iTunes Phones too in addition to Windows Media Phones.
c) Most likely Cingular will be picking up an iPhone in January.
d) Your post just got TKO'd. - nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9also I can take any of my Xbox games to a friend's house and play them on his Xbox if I want to.
- rypaintD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Who says you can only buy music from iTunes online for the iPod?
- shadownight, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I buy some of my music from iTunes for the convenience, then re-rip it to remove the DRM.
- exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5THe main difference between consoles and mp3 players is the business model. Console manufacturers are known for losing money on the console, but getting it back when people buy games. Mp3 players, on the other hand, make their money on hardware. Apple makes some money on iTunes, but most of it on iPod sales. This is why all mp3 players (forgive me for using mp3, audio is better, but people call them mp3 players) still play mp3s; they make money on hardware.
- Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Let me augment my prior observation: MS didn't just leave the risk taking to the hardware OEMs, but the content providers as well, with the exception of MSN. Meanwhile, they sat back and tried to take a cut of the earnings by charging licensing fees.
What's wrong with this picture?:
MS lets smaller partners with fewer resources take all the risks against Apple (both content providers and hardware OEMs), and then screws them all over when they fail to produce results by making a real investment in promoting their own Apple-esque system. - doodlebumm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I think the big problem is shutting down one store that supported other vendors' hardware, then open up another store that only supports your own hardware and leaves those other vendors out in the cold. Microsoft has always been really good at making alliances with other companies just to turn around and screw them big time.
- bkojot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4But MSN music is now going to link me to this new Zune service, which they appear to be pushing on this site. In fact, all of the links to artists and albums are now going to this site. Problem is that this is Microsoft, the same company who was telling me not to be "locked down" by the iPod and iTunes and in less than two years is replacing it with an incompatible service and device which is locking out the music I purchased from them.
Had I purchased this music from Apple's iTunes, I'd still be able to use it on Apple's players. So far, all iTunes purchases work on all of Apple's players.
Microsoft was very good at telling people iTunes is going to screw them over, but leave it to Microsoft to be the first to screw their customers. Do you people see what's wrong with that picture? - JDelta, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11support bittorrent?
...screw the riaa! - mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Either that, or you could take your iPod with you to all those places!
- Daolohua, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is sad news. Rather than advance the digital distribution industry MS has chosen to play by Apple's rules?
I doubt they're going to convince ipod owners to switch by using the same business model. Their hardware would have to be spectacular. - WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Well, I've found the audio quality to be quite poor on the iTunes Music Store recordings. Definitely not CD quality, and definitely not worth $1 a piece. Also, why should I have to burn to CD and re-rip just to get an MP3 file? Why can't they just let me download an MP3 directly, or let iTunes export to MP3 format like it can with regular unprotected music files?
- FKnight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3true true
- bkojot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Will purchases made with MSN music be playable on the Zune? No? Okay, good move, MS.
Thanks, Microsoft. - 81v3d07g0d, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I have to admit that to me compared to the Ipod the Zune looks kind of tempting. For me its a toss up on price, but then again I don't now nor will I even buy DRM music. Its no huge surprise that MS or Apple have continued to do everything to screw (thanks to the RIAA) there good customers while those that download illegally are free to do whatever they want. When will people ever learn.
But they both seem like great players, - accabonac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3what's hilarious is that when I went to the story, the ad in the prime spot was for the ipod.
- stealthboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4logicbus: "Why do games need to be made for a specific system?"
They do seem to be porting games quite a bit these days. They just need to change from architecture to architecture, but the media resources are the same. - mercurysquad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3mrgoat: But they sell mostly independent labels' music. Not really what most people would search for in a music store (sadly..)
- colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Microsoft just uses something different in thier own Zune store to get people to use thier store with thier MP3 player just like Apple.
But the WMA DRM that is used by Napster, MusicMatch, Rhapsody, Yahoo, etc. is alive and well and will continue to be."
Note I didn't say Napstar et al dropped support for PlaysForSure. Microsoft will just be no longer supporting it. - lilrabbit129, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"MS can afford the loss of a few 2% of mac users who may have bought one"
While its true that mac users are the minority (by a large margin) in terms of number of users, I think we have a disproportionate influence on the industry. Mac users are a tight knit group. Mac users have no trouble telling anyone how great (or horrible) a product is. This makes us a group you wouldn't want to ignore (in the consumer area anyway). - archer75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's not an issue at all. There are many other music stores out there that work on all the other hardware. Just use one of those. The other hardware companies have not been screwed by microsoft shutting down ONE rarely used music store.
Hell, MSN music even refers you to rhapsody so you can still get music for your player. - inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2> Mac users are not the majority and MS can afford the loss of
> a few 2% of mac users who may have bought one
Apple's overall market share is larger than 2% but that number is the whole computer industry (including business) which doesn't correlate with the music download market (unless IS depts. out there are footing their user's music bills.) I've seen estimates of Apple's *home* computer market share at 10%. MS cannot ignore 10% of the market and expect to compete. Likewise, I think by virtue of Apple's higher prices, Mac users in general probably have more disposable income which means they would probably account for more than 10% of the music purchased online. IMO, ignoring such an obvious chunk of the market is foolish. - mgroat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3What about Magnatune, emusic, Bleep, or Audio Lunchbox.
None of these sites have DRM. - Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://news.com.com/MSN+Music+presses+mute+on+downloads/2100-1027_3-6132201.html
MacWorld is took the information from CNET. - Nitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've made three...Wait, no...Four purchases from MSN Music. In fact, I purchased a single track yesterday. Even though I'm a heavy *nix user, I still don't mind MSN Music. The prices are reasonable (not great, but reasonable) and the DRM is easy to crack. Everything I have purchased from them has been relatively obscure, from Broadway soundtracks (since I play in pit orchestras and it's easier to learn the music if you have a general idea of what it sounds like) to some random Woody Herman song. Although I really can't stand Microsoft, I'll have to admit that their music service is something I can at least tolerate.
Side note: Shouldn't digg add words like "DRM" to their dictionary? - dcmjzero, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@shadownight
So, let me get this straight. You buy music online, burn it to a physical disc (which is an extra cost), and then rip the music back to your hard drive (loosing sound quality in the process), and YOU CALL IT CONVENIENT? Am I missing something? How would this be - flarn2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2actually technically the buyer owns the actual product; the manufacturer only owns the rights to the design.
- JackAxe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Dear public that bought itnto all of our MS Marketing-BS about how Apple's way isn't the right way. After years of failure with our partners and botched attempts at DRM, we've decided to mimic Apple's way, well sorta, and we'll now be offering a new Apple-esc type music service. So please repurchase all of the PFS music that you've already payed for, because it doesn't work on our Zune. Oh, I forgot to mention that you'll want to buy a Zune, because it's a social thing and all of the hip-iPod-despisers will flock to its blowed-up-screen and uber-great cell-phone type thumb pad. Did I mention it comes in brown. Imagine the hours of social fun that you'll have as it transfers one song to a fellow Zunerrrd, who at that point, can then listen to it. At MS we know what's cools, so welcome to the new Social Order.
P.S. to our former PFS hardware partners. Competition with our Zune will not be tolerated. - FKnight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2All I know is that before we had all of these advances in technological "progress" I was able to buy a Tape/CD, take it home, play it on my stereo, play the same media in my car, play the same media in my bedroom, play the same media at my g/f's house, and play the same media at work.
Screw this, the future sucks. - fronkman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2good work burfbarnaby
you have just joined the ranks of the thousands of people who just *knew* apple was about to go bankrupt. i mean you aren't like John C Dvorak who has written columns 4 times stating that he was *100% certain* that Apple will be bankrupt within the year. He was wrong in 1989, 1992, 1998 and 2001. Welcome to his club... -
Show 51 - 96 of 96 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is