GNG News Guy
03-25-2008, 06:40 PM
http://i.dslr.net/urls/70/4270.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sony-BMG-To-Offer-Unlimited-Online-Music-92977)
News emerged last week that Apple was trying to get the labels to sign off on an "unlimited" all you can eat iTunes buffet (http://www.thegng.org/shownews/92779) type plan, but even at this early stage, it's clear the plan was going to emerge with some major restrictions. Namely, you might lose some purchased music should the subscription end, which means some form of annoying DRM. On the heels of that offering, Sony BMG says they're developing their own unlimited access music plan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_hi_te/germany_sony_bmg_online_music).As for costs to subscribers, the newspaper quoted him as saying that the "simplest option would be a flat rate" fee per month of around 6 to 8 euros ($9 to $12) for unlimited access to Sony BMG's entire music catalog and that the downloads would be compatible with all players, including Apple's ubiquitous iPod.
However, this plan too suffers from some fatal flaws that could make the project doomed to failure. Sony/BMG's CEO suggests it's "even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely, that they would own them even after the subscription expired." That means there's "some songs" you won't own after paying a substantial amount of money. Even if users like the "rental" idea, Techdirt (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080325/110556644.shtml) points to the other major problem:the bigger problem is simply the fact that this would fragment the market. No one wants to shop at one store for Sony BMG musicians, another one for Warner Bros musicians, another for EMI musicians, another one for Universal Music musicians and yet another for indie musicians. And, at the price point Sony BMG is talking about ($9 to $12/month) if you want subscriptions to all the fragmented stores, you end up pay $75 to $100/month for DRM-encrusted subscription plans. That's not going to work.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sony-BMG-To-Offer-Unlimited-Online-Music-92977)
News emerged last week that Apple was trying to get the labels to sign off on an "unlimited" all you can eat iTunes buffet (http://www.thegng.org/shownews/92779) type plan, but even at this early stage, it's clear the plan was going to emerge with some major restrictions. Namely, you might lose some purchased music should the subscription end, which means some form of annoying DRM. On the heels of that offering, Sony BMG says they're developing their own unlimited access music plan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_hi_te/germany_sony_bmg_online_music).As for costs to subscribers, the newspaper quoted him as saying that the "simplest option would be a flat rate" fee per month of around 6 to 8 euros ($9 to $12) for unlimited access to Sony BMG's entire music catalog and that the downloads would be compatible with all players, including Apple's ubiquitous iPod.
However, this plan too suffers from some fatal flaws that could make the project doomed to failure. Sony/BMG's CEO suggests it's "even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely, that they would own them even after the subscription expired." That means there's "some songs" you won't own after paying a substantial amount of money. Even if users like the "rental" idea, Techdirt (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080325/110556644.shtml) points to the other major problem:the bigger problem is simply the fact that this would fragment the market. No one wants to shop at one store for Sony BMG musicians, another one for Warner Bros musicians, another for EMI musicians, another one for Universal Music musicians and yet another for indie musicians. And, at the price point Sony BMG is talking about ($9 to $12/month) if you want subscriptions to all the fragmented stores, you end up pay $75 to $100/month for DRM-encrusted subscription plans. That's not going to work.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sony-BMG-To-Offer-Unlimited-Online-Music-92977)