Okay, it is time for me to finally say good bye to my portable disc player, and join the On-line and portable music revolution. Okay, the revolution isn’t so new any more, nor is my computer, but as I wade through the sea of choices for how to download music, listen to and buy On-line tracks, I grow more eager to get my feet wet and eventually suit up to take the plunge. But I happen to be a bit more practical than that. So, I have spent a considerable amount of time over the last few weeks trying to determine what’s perfect for my lifestyle, my wallet and my computer.
1st thing I realized when searching all of the music services is that things seemed to work a lot smoother with a cable connection (and most services seem to point that out from the get go). Just like my CD Walkman, the time had come for me to lose my ancient dial-up connection to the On-line experience. It actually turned out to work in my favor as my cable company gave me a good deal on high-speed, and also threw in a discount on my existing costs for cable television.
Now that I has been “connected” at an acceptable speed to the World Wide Web, I had to determine, what I has been trying to get out of the On-line music experience. After some intense melodious soul searching, I realized that the only thing the separated me from the perpetually hip is perhaps the types of music I has been searching for, and the amount of time I wanted to invest On-line searching for music.
The guy who sits next to me has a 60 GB iPod, and is complaining that it is al most full. That is over seven thousand songs. I don’t know that I would even live long enough to listen to that a lot of songs. My needs were easy r. I had an MP3 player still in the box from two Christmas’ ago, and it promised to hold over 500 songs. That would be perfect for me, at least in the short term.
Next, what has been I looking for in my new On-line music experience? Did I want to listen to music on my computer, in my car or on my MP3 player? Yes to all three. Did I want to listen to the radio while I has been on my computer? Again, yes. Did I want to trade music with others On-line in a peer-to-peer Napster- like environment? Eh, that one scared me a little, and I decided that opening up my files to strangers made me feel dirt, so I put that one on hold.
My next stop in determining how I would “music On-line ” has been price. I searched dozens of websites and services, but narrowed my sights to three of the large guys: AOL Music Now, iTunes and Rhapsody Music Service ( offer d by Real Networks).
I already had AOL, so I signed up for their Music Now product for $8.99/month ( that’s in addition to their monthly fee as an ISP). I has been able to download songs, listen to them while “offline” and burn them to CD or move them over to my MP3 player for an additional fee per song. That seemed to be standard across most of the services. Music Now has been a follow up to the original AOL Music Net, which I actually like d better because it ran local/regional ly on machine and the new Web-based Music Now takes much longer. AOL also has a partnership with iTunes, so you may be on AOL, but iTunes will launch and then you are actually in the iTunes application. It’s confusing. If I want to move my downloaded songs to my MP3 player, the monthly fee jumps to $14.95 per month, and if I want to put them on a CD, I pay and additional 99 cents per track. This is too much resources for me. I typically buy one or two CD ’s a month, and that would be cheaper than this On-line service. Not to mention you’ve to be an existing AOL member (more resources per month) in order to even use the product. I am passing on AOL Music Now.
On to iTunes. Okay, so there is no monthly fee for iTunes. Love that. And I may purchase songs for 99 cents per track. Love that too. But wait. I don’t have an iPod, and iTunes has songs in their proprietary MP4 format. Ugh. The cheapest iPod out there is around $99 (so much for no monthly fee), and it is not the model I would select. I like my MP3 player. If I already had an iPod, this may be the route I would go, but Apple tends be exceedingly inflexible, and I hate to be tied to one offer r, player and format. There’s also a limit to how you may share the songs on your home network. I feel like even though I own the song, I am being watched on what I do with it. Good bye large brother.
Rhapsody Music Service from Real Networks. So far they are the least expensive. $9.99 per month and that’s with unlimited access to over 1.3 million songs. I do have to have pay the additional 99 cent fee if I want to burn to CD or transfer to my MP3, but that’s the industry standard for paying the artist s, and the monthly fee is five dollars less per month than AOL. The music comes over in the more expansive ly support ed MP3 format and the songs are mine to rip transfer or share with my other Computers on my home network. like the other two, I may listen to live radio on my computer, but I like the freedom I get with Rhapsody Music Service. I am not being watched, and the music is mine.
Now that I know how to download music and have chosen Rhapsody Music Service, I am on my way to joining the new world of portable digital music. I have already burned a few CD ’s for my car, albeit with an older man’s twist on today ’s favorite s, and transferred those same songs over to my little antiquated MP3 player for those long weekend walks.
I find pleasure in downloading music to my computer and portable digital music player. In fact, I can’t recall the last time I has been at a music seller. I am a convert. I like listening to music samples on the Internet and buying only the songs that I want and not wanting to buy an entire disc where I may like only a few song tracks. This is the reason why iPods from Apple computer Inc. (AAPL) have grown exponentially in popularity to the current cult status. A companion of mine received a 30GB iPod for Christmas and trust me you’ve never seen an individual so excited.
A 30GB iPod may hold up to 7,500 CD quality songs. That is impressive. Apple is a trendsetter in my estimation. From its MAC to the iPod, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has a keen knack for trends. These portable music devices have so much memory because he might expects a massive shift to CD burning and downloadable music. Apple’s iTunes Music Store is booming.
Just last week, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry released its research into the digital music industry and the determinations were not a surprise. Just like how On-line DVD movies have dominated the video rental market, dominated by Netflix Inc. (NFLX), and pushing incumbent Blockbuster Inc. (BBI) to the sidelines, the exponential growth of the On-line music business has been on an explosive upward path.
According to the research, sales of digital music world expansive better by over 300 percent in 2005 to $1.1 billion. The research said digital music accounts for about 6 percent of total music sales, up from exceedingly little two years back.
The competition in the industry is fierce and expected to ramp up going forward. This may guide to consolidation in the industry down the road and result in lower prices. all of us may see the bigger and more established players taking out the smaller up and comers.
Besides Apple, there are a slew of On-line music website’s. Probably the most well known is Napster Inc. (NAPS). Napster reported it has over 500,000 subscribers but has yet to turn a profit and isn’t expected for the time being. But the company has minimal debt and a whopping $128 million or $2.91 per share in cash. Given that the current share price is 3.08, this implies you are paying a mere $0.17 for the company’s asset and potential. This is pretty good and enticing for speculators, but then Napster must deliver profits. Napster may be the dark horse in the digital music business.
In addition to Apple and Napster, there is also the growing Rhapsody music service from RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK) and Yahoo Music from Yahoo Inc. (YHOO).
