Full FeediTunes has a new competitor thanks to Napster
What’s that sound I hear? Oh, that’s just Apple gasping in utter shock over in Cupertino. Why? Hot from the press:
Napster’s download store is more than 50% larger than any other MP3 store and boasts not only the largest major label MP3 catalog in the industry, but also the largest library of independent music available anywhere. All Napster download sales in the U.S. will now be in the user-friendly, DRM-free MP3 format, which is compatible with virtually any MP3 player or music phone including the iPod and the iPhone. Napster is the first music subscription service featuring major label content to offer 100% of its catalog in the MP3 format for download sales.
The only complaint I have after reading that was that it’s not available via Safari yet.
If this isn’t screaming, “major iTunes competitor!” then I don’t know what is. With $.99 tracks like iTunes, this service seems almost unbelievable. Also containing an online interface that doesn’t require downloading software like iTunes as well as a music subscription service, this could be finally what we were waiting for in order to have the perfect digital media buying experience. I still need some time to fully check this out, but from my first impression
(and first impressions are important) it could become my main store for buying digital media. What do you think, is this enough to finally give iTunes some serious competition other than illegal file sharing?
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“What’s that sound I hear? Oh, that’s just Apple gasping in utter shock over in Cupertino.”
Oh, wait…. No, that was Apple yawning. Just like the Zunes’ market share came from a weaker player (not from iPod), so, too will most of Napsters (small) market share come form weaker competitors.
There will be a small percentage of current iTunes users who abhor DRM (even Apple’s fairly relaxed version) to buy their music elsewhere but they are already probably shopping at Amazon (or buying CDs). Most people just don’t care - iTunes delivers a great experience (for them).
Also, who else thinks Napster changing their business plan every few months is pretty stupid and that the Napster name is worthless. Sure it was great back in the day but that company is gone.
on May 21, 2008 at 09:19 AM - LINK