Petteri Pyyny
16 Jul 2003 16:41
Net retailer Buy.com plans to launch its own music store on next week's Tuesday, aimed at Windows users with pretty similiar pricing structure as Apple's hugely successful iTunes (which is not available for Windows users yet) has, i.e. user pays $0.99 per song download and no subscription fees, etc.
Buy.com tries to emulate Apple's success, although its business will be based on a website-based store front rather than a stand-alone application, like Apple's iTunes is. Even the service name of Buy.com's music store sounds somehow familiar -- iMusic. And obviously to stir the soup a bit more, there is a well-established site called iMusic.com already, owned by the ArtistDirect Network.
It is not known yet what format Buy.com will eventually use, but odds are in favour of WMA added with Microsoft's DRM stuff. It is interesting to see whether Buy.com's tracks can be burned on audio CDs or converted to unrestricted MP3s.
Source: SiliconValley.com