The tech giant Microsoft is getting ready to launch its own online music service. Microsoft isn't going to follow the same format as Apple's Online Music Store. Instead its online service will be subscription based. I personally don't like the idea of a subscription based music store, but Microsoft thinks otherwise. That users will benefit more from a subscription based versus what iTunes is offering. At any rate we'll have to wait till fall to see what Microsoft has up its sleeves.
Hoping to put a dent in the popularity of Apple Computer Inc.'s music download service, online music subscription providers are readying services that allow users to shift rented songs to portable digital music players. If the offerings catch on, it would mark a victory for Web music providers such as Napster, MusicNow and MusicNet(at)AOL and for Microsoft Corp., which is providing the software designed to ensure that the enhanced subscription-based services can be offered without opening a new front for digital piracy.
Music subscription providers allow members listen to an unlimited number of songs for a monthly fee, but the services have been hamstrung by restrictions on transferring the songs to digital music players. But providers say the new digital rights management technology, code-named Janus, from Microsoft, will enable subscribers to listen to music subscriptions on the go, while providing assurance to record companies that their copyrighted content will not be pirated. By contrast, Apple's hugely popular online music store iTunes allows users to buy songs outright that they can then transfer to one of the company's popular iPod music players.
News source: Reuters
