Viva la Digital Music Resistance: Online Music Companies Attempt to Break Up the Apple Monopoly by Corey J. Feldman

iTunes and the iPod were the results of an MP3 revolution, much of which is still considered to be very illegal. However, Digital Life placed the future of music comfortably in the healthy capitalism upon which this country thrives. While most people only buy about $60 worth of music each year (3-4 albums), the question remains: where are they going to look for their money’s worth in coming years?

Digital Life hosted a panel entitled “Digital Music: So you Wanted a Revolution,” with representatives from four major online subscription music services. The panelists talked about their companies and what they’d learned in the past two years as young entrepreneurs in this evolving industry. As competitors of Apple’s music service (and not competitors of the iPod), the panel reps felt strongly about the superiority of their respective services.

“iTunes is yesterday disguised as tomorrow,” said Tim Quirk of Real Networks, who was pushing his program, Rhapsody. Apple offers users 99 cent downloads and various versions of the iPod, but what they don’t offer is unlimited downloads. "Napster 2.0 introduced all you can eat flat rate music," said Bill Pence of Napster. “Choice is what users want: 99 cent downloads and subscription.” Matt Adell of MusicNow, however, did not think 99 cent downloads could hold the market much longer.

Real Rhapsody: Offering 27 Ways To Stumble Across Music

"Ninety-nine cent downloads won’t support record labels or the music industry,” said Adell. “Most of what you pay for is music videos and promotion anyways.”

The panelists mutually agreed that the iTunes store doesn’t facilitate the discovery of new music like their services do.

“Rhapsody gives you 27 ways to stumble across music,” said Quirk.

Adell explained that the original Napster was not for people who wanted to discover new music. Rather it was for people who wanted “to rediscover familiar things.”

Napster Comes Of Age: It's Legal Now And Ready To Raise Hell

Pence told listeners that Napster 2.0 allows users to view the playlists of others to find similar music, or artists in a related genre. These new subscription services are encouraging users to explore the realm of unlimited music for just $10 a month. While iTunes seems to be sweeping the world, it was nowhere to be found on the trade floor. Instead, there was a case full of Windows Media Player 10 compatible MP3 devices. It’s no surprise that Apple wasn’t at Digital Life, but does any company have a true stake in the digital music market share? Holiday sales will decide that.

"Why hold 100,000 songs in your pocket when you can download them all instantaneously from a subscription music service?" said Chris Allen of Musicmatch.

Microsoft doesn’t have their own portable MP3 device. Rather, independent companies work with PC compatibility to compete and sell their products, but there are so many to choose from. You can go to www.playsforsure.com to check them all out. A few of my favorites are the Creative Zen Portable Media Center, the iRiver, and the trusty Rio Forge 512MB Sport. Portable media devices are now as simple as a small MP3 player, and as complex as a small full color screen that can store and play 85 hours of video. These iPod competitors will find their niches by creating more convenience than the iPod through wireless downloads, FM radio, voice recorders, and more.

Playsforsure is linked with a number of online music services including Napster, MusicNow, and Walmart, who advertises 88 cent song downloads. Competition drives prices down. These subscription services and music stores are competing for a new generation of Columbia House/BMG style music subscriptions. "When we dropped the price of a song to 49 cents, 2/3 of our sales were full albums, and 1/3 were single songs,” said Tim Quirk of Real Networks. “When they were 99 cents it was the exact opposite.”

$.99 Just Won't Cut It: Music Now Offers Something Different

Subscription music services are going to compete with the iTunes online music store as well as satellite radio for years to come. However, the simple economics of supply and demand will help the proliferating industry find some sense of balance, and PC compatibility should make it even easier.