HP to Launch Music Service, Player In 2004

securitas writes "HPShopping.com CEO Peter Appl told Reuters that HP will launch its own branded online music service and a portable MP3 / digital music player in 2004. Appl (the CEO) said that the newcomers would compete with Apple (the company's) music products such as the iTunes music store and iPod music player, among others. HP expects its store to be a branded version of an existing service. Appl also said that the launch will take place at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Compaq sold its own line of digital music players, now discontinued, before its merger with HP. Mirrors of the Reuters story at CNN and Boston.com. A quick check shows that HPMusic.com resolves to an 'HP customer care local language selection' technical support page, and the domain has been registered since 1999."

Comments

New Pair of Dimes

[dolo666]

(checks crystal ball)

I see only one of two possible immediate outcomes to all of these music services going up at the same time:

1. The collapse of the RIAA's scare-tactics business model for coercion to expensive copyright, and a change in how people listen and contribute to the music industry.

2. The total destruction of all online music sales, as all said businesses compete eachother out of existence.

In either case, the indies will be getting a *huge* increase in power, wealth and the ability to remain flexible to meet market demand and handle new distribution opportunities.

I think this is really good for everyone... especially when you consider that most of the traditional corporations have mission statements like: "Our goal is to competently build virtual data to allow us to conveniently disseminate quality content for 100% customer satisfaction", and compare that line of thought to the mission of indy music, which is more along the lines of "create the best, most innovative music and get a huge fan base, because we ROCK!"

Re:New Pair of Dimes

[shark72]

"1. The collapse of the RIAA's scare-tactics business model for coercion to expensive copyright, and a change in how people listen and contribute to the music industry."

The RIAA's lawsuits (and by the way, there were more today) are symbiotic with, and not counter to, the growth in the legitimate download services. The RIAA's tactic is to scare people away from downloading copyrighted music without permission. The theory is that with greater awareness that doing so is illegal, and/or a fear of being caught, downloaders will migrate to legitimate sources, like iTMS, Napster, and the metric squillion others that have popped up.

So, "collapse" isn't the best word -- ideally, the need to resort to legal action will eventually evaporate.

"2. The total destruction of all online music sales, as all said businesses compete eachother out of existence."

The online music industry is like any other: some big players, some small players, some smart ones, some not-so-smart. It's been clearly shown that there's growing demand, so the industry will probably be around for some time to come.

Re:New Pair of Dimes

[penguin king]

I still can't help but think back to the lawsuit against that 12 year old girl. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't she paid for the service she was using in downloading the mp3s, or at least had been led to believe that was what she was paying for.

I can just imagine people buying into this sort of service and then a loophole being found and the RIAA's lawsuit numbers increasing. I think the online community should watch this sort of thing with suspicion.

As always Caveat Emptor. I'm not saying it's likely that HP will do this, but when smaller players come into the play it should be watched that they are dealing with the RIAA in the correct ways.

Re:New Pair of Dimes

[cmacb]

Yeah, doesn't this pretty much prove that most of America's CEOs have absolutely no imagination?

Step one: Offload manufacturing, then programming, then support over seas and lay everyone off.

Step two: Look around and realize that there is not much point in being in charge of a company of one with everything being done elsewhere, better come up with a new product idea fast.

Step three: Read headline in last months business journal that say online music really taking off fast.

Step four: WOW, I'm gettin' into THAT. I bet nobody else has thought of this! Hire the son of the CEO that lives next door to run the whole thing from his bedroom.

Step five... wait for it..... Profit!

Apple Copy

[General Sherman]

"If Apple can do it, so can we!"

Joining dell on the music bandwagon. Oh well, I guess it's a good thing. Competition inspires innovation, right? right?

Re:Apple Copy

[rolocroz]

Sheesh, you'd think that if they were going to copy Apple they could at least spell it right. I mean, Peter Appl? Come on!

Re:Apple Copy

[UnknowingFool]

Is it me or does most of the computer makers just seem to follow Apple in many design respects? Apple comes out with a translucent computer the iMac. HP and Compaq add translucent parts to their machines. Apple names it's new line iMac. Compaq names it's new PDA iPaq. Apple abandons the theme and ops for a more metallic silver finish. Dell, HP/Compaq adds silver details to their computers.

This is ...

[pavon]

more evidence that HP is trying to go out of business.

Re:This is ...

[ischorr]

Cash cow? What are you talking about? The market leader can't even make money, for cripe's sake.

Perhaps it's infinitely more revenue than was being brought in before, but that doesn't mean that it's profitable or a feasible business plan. And they're just going to be reselling someone else's service, which gives them an even smaller piece of revenue to play with...

Oranges

[Seehund]

Let's get the Now You're Comparing Appls And Apples jokes out of the way.

The only really new thing here...

[rolocroz]

...is that HP's entering the business. They're not creating anything new on their own: instead, they've decided to brand an existing product. Yawn.

The CEO's name...

[Steve 'Rim' Jobs]

HPShopping.com CEO Peter Appl

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Now we can say it

[armando_wall3]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of online music retailers!

Maybe it will run on Linux

[El Cubano]

Seeing as HP has lots of support for Linux (mostly enterprise, but you can buy some of their desktop models with Mandrake preinstalled), maybe they will push to have a Linux version. Here's to hoping ...

What if...

[Anonymous Coward]

With all the recent desires to open a branch in the music industry, you have to wonder what would happen if Microsoft got it's hands wet, "Sorry, you cannot play this on linux" or "Sorry, this is an apple product." Still, at least SCO or Al Gore isn't involved:

SCO: You must have a license to listen to music, available for a modest fee.

Gore: Sorry, but I invented music.

Microsoft: And I invented the stringent EULA's and Windows, which runs flawlessly.

RIAA: You all must bow down to me, the screwer of all artists.

Value in old domains

[rf0]

Prehaps hp just went through a list of domains they owned and thought, how can we make money off this and off they go. Wonder if they own hpporn?

Rus

Features of the HP's music player

[markov_chain]

I can already see it:

* Equipped with a 192-bit DAC for maximum output quality
* Sound recording feature with 1MHz sampling rate
* Full-color spectrum analyzer
* Sturdy, "expensive plastic" design- you can drop it, drive a truck over it, and it will still work.
* Modem line-quality test feature: just let it record the sound of your modem
* The MP3 player uses 3 DSPs for fault-tolerance
* Costs $15000

Re:Features of the HP's music player

[silentbozo]

Sorry, the indestructible tools and engineering heritage portion of HP got spun off to Agilent. :(

Re:Features of the HP's music player

[bbc22405]

* One headphone cord is red, the other black. :-)
(with an alligator clip at the end of each, ouch!)

Market Saturation

[Philosinfinity]

With half a bajillion companies now offering song downloads at $0.99 and none coming to us without some sort of DRM involved, why would we choose one over another? The Apple iTunes store has had so much success because of (1) the sales success of the ipod and (2) the ease on integration of iTunes and OS X. Now let's turn this into a look at HP. HP's MP3 player (while the MP3 player in question is purely speculative since it has not been released) is probably no different than any other MP3 player and I doubt they could be much better than the Neuros. So this gives us no need to choose the HP music store over any other store. Further, HP hardware is not proprietary in the sense that getting music from the HP store would either be a required method of getting music or the easiest because of a lack of other sources. This seems to tell me one thing: HP's journey into online digital music sales will most likely be short lived.

Re:Market Saturation

[newbiescum]

So this gives us no need to choose the HP music store over any other store. Further, HP hardware is not proprietary in the sense that getting music from the HP store would either be a required method of getting music or the easiest because of a lack of other sources. This seems to tell me one thing: HP's journey into online digital music sales will most likely be short lived.

Think of HP, Dell, and especially Gateway turning into the new Best Buys, Frys, and CompUSAs. They're already selling plasma TVs, PDAs, and digital cameras. This is just merely another technology product that they are offering. Then the reason why you pick HP versus Dell or Best Buy versus Frys is the customer service, prices, etc. just like a traditional retail outlet.

HP's downward spiral

[mr.henry]

Jeez, this just smacks of desperation. The article also states HP is getting into flat screen TV's. Gateway has been selling these things for over a year now. This is as bad as their big launch of crappy consumer electronics (like the HP DVD Movie Writer, a device that converts VHS to DVD+R... not the more widely compatible DVD-R format).

It's really painful to watch HP crash and burn. Thanks, Carly!

Lame, Lame, Lame

[timeOday]

What's with all these music services tied to specific players? What a stupid idea. I'll never buy music in a format for which there are only a few manufacturers. I rather buy and rip CD's (as stupid and inefficient as that is in this networked era.)

Re:Lame, Lame, Lame

[cowscows]

Straight from Apple and Steve Jobs; they don't make any money selling the tunes, it's just there to push iPods. Unless a company can manage to talk the record labels into a much better deal than apple got, at 99cents or less per song, there's not much of a profit to be made in the music itself.

Apple is saying that's one of the reasons that they're not too worried about all of these other companies starting their own services. The ones that don't have an accompanying product like the iPod (or oodles of cash to throw away (MS)) probably won't be able to eek an existence out of online music sales alone.

Hmmm

[Captain Splendid]

As unimpressed as I am (I loathe HP, its products and all it stands for) all these music services/mp3 players coming out means that 2004 looks to to be the year where mp3 players become commodities. The hardware is at a decent stage (thanks to the iPod). Now all that's left is for prices to come down to walkman/discman-like levels.

online music as a commodity

[larry bagina]

According to the register (a reliable source, if ever there was one), Apple doesn't make much (if any) money from iTMS directly -- it's a gateway for iPods, where they do make money. So it's not surprising HP has mp3 (wma) players along with their music store.

However, Napster, BuyMusic, Dell, and HP should be shitting their pants now that MS will be in the business. They're all dealing with the same DRM (wma files), the same catalog, and the same music. MS has the resources to make sure they wind up on top.

This is scaring me

[Anonymous Coward]

For one reason: The popping up of all these services can only strengthen WMA.

Since everyone except iTunes seems to rely on WMA DRM, this slew of services may well be the thing that takes WMA from an also-ran joke to a serious media format.

I don't like the idea of MS having real power in the world of media formats.

Corporate Sabotage?

[Hyperbolix]

I'm awefully distressed that Apple's music player isn't getting more recognition in consumer electronics houses. I went to Best Buy recently to pick up a much needed case fan, and was surprised to see that they carry iPods. Unfortunately, they have all their iPods in a locked transparant glass case at floor level, making it very difficult to look inside. Additionally, all the iPod boxes are oriented in such a way that the size is the only visible part of the box. On top of this case is the latest offering from Creative Labs, in a nice clear plastic case, showing off the (rather bulky) HDD MP3 player. It is impossible see what the iPod even looks like in the display. As I was doing my Christmas shopping at the time, I had my own iPod with me. I was asked about it by two moderately interested individuals, who were complete unaware of the presence of the product in the store. It's really too bad that the bottom line plays such a big role in the way these products are marketted. Best Buy has a much more significant markup on the other MP3 players, but its a little deceiteful to tuck the good stuff away like that. OK, enough of my griping. - J. B.

I can't see how this fits HP's business model

[Anonymous Coward]

How in the world can this lead to sales of Inkjet cartridges for $40 each?

And in other news...

[FVK]

Packard Bell today announced it would re-enter the US market with the introduction of a new online music service and branded media player. Company spokesman Mr. Fuzuoku said "we will avoid repeating past failure by competing only in markets with no competition from DELL and H........D'Oh!!"

Lemmings

[Goo.cc]

Sometimes, watching the computer industry is like watching a bunch of lemmings. Next thing you know, SCO will be launching a music service as well! :)

What is the expected lifetime of these formats

[nomadicGeek]

I have CD's that are 17 years old. They still work and I have been able to rip all of them and use them in my MP3 player. The beauty of an open format.

DRM sucks. The files only last for as long as you have the software/hardware to play them. What is my guarantee that I will be able to listen to this music in 20 years after I spend the money to license it? Let's face it, at $10/album or $0.99/song it is not as good of a deal as a $16 CD. The data is in a crippled format that is less valuable to me because I may not be able to use it in a few years. If HP or Apple or whoever later decides to stop supporting the format then I am screwed, I can't legally convert the files to another format unless the vendor is nice enough to provide me with an officially sanctioned tool. Do you think they will do that instead of forcing me to buy another copy in a different format?

How am I supposed to keep track of which file came from which vendor and thus needs player X to play?

Re:What is the expected lifetime of these formats

[singularity]

If HP or Apple or whoever later decides to stop supporting the format then I am screwed, I can't legally convert the files to another format unless the vendor is nice enough to provide me with an officially sanctioned tool. Do you think they will do that instead of forcing me to buy another copy in a different format?

Yeah, Apple would never allow you to do something like burn them to the non-DRM'd CDs you love so much.

As many times as you would like. [1]

Or have their DRM'd files be based on an industry standard. [2]

[1] From http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/: "You can burn songs onto an unlimited number of CDs for your personal use, listen to songs on an unlimited number of iPods and play songs on up to three Macintosh computers or Windows PCs."

[2] See http://www.apple.com/mpeg4/aac/

I wish.

[Doktor Memory]

Ah, it's a lovely thought, but let's get real: that HP is long dead, and the bits they didn't spin off with Aligent got taken out behind the woodshed and shot.

No, this thing will be designed by ex-Compaq engineers. It'll be bigger than the Creative Nomad, flakier than the Rio Karma, heavier than the Zen, and more expensive than the iPod.

Most of HP's product Lines doesn't make money

[randall_burns]

The only divisions of HP that actually made money when I was there were:

1) Servers

2) Printer Supplies

The rest of the product line was basically dead weight. This strikes me as one more piece of dead weight. HP seems desperate to find something that will make money-desperate enough to do just about anything except create strong incentives for technical excellence.

This could be good news...for Apple

[Nova Express]

Why? Because Apple currently dominates both online music services AND digital music players. The more firms jumping into the fray, the less any single one of Apple's competitors stand out. Moreover, given that Apple's DRM is considerably less heinous than the those of the other firms, that it has better software, and integration with the market-leading MP3 player, it becomes a matter of "I could carefully compare these 7 or 8 other online services, popping up like dot-bomb zombie clones, all of whom have exactly the same price, and try to figure out which is best AND will still be in business five years from now...or I could just go with iTunes as both the cool AND obvious choice." If Apple had two or three strong competitors, it might be different, but seven or eight weak ones just make iTunes look that much more attractive by comparison.

My prediction: The iTunes Music Store will still be going string five years from now, but all but one or two of other digital music stores will be gone.

other, hip new ideas nobody has thought of yet

[finkployd]

Word Processing program for Windows
Online Brokerage
Auction Website
Internet Porn
Filesharing App
The Wheel
Sue Open Source for an undisclosed reason

The list just goes on

Sheesh

Finkployd

I can only hope...

[IANAL(BIAILS)]

I can only hope that this one will be availible in Canada. The Apple iTunes sounds really good, and I do *want* to pay for my music downloads, but right now it's just not possible. (Yes, i'm aware of that Canadian service, but the reviews seem to be mixed).

Re:And they say...

[Unregistered]

--
Sick of gentoo zealots throwing plugs in completely unrelated topics? Me too!

Well, if everyone used gentoo, that wouldn't be a problem

You forgot ...

[s20451]

Size: Rack mount form factor
Weight: 60lbs

To recap recent news:

[Cuthalion]

Apple says "We're really not making any money selling tons of music over the interent"

AOL, HP, Wal*mart, Microsoft, Napster, etc all say: "Not making any money?! Shit! I gotta get me some of that!". Hilarity ensues.

While I hate DRM in general

[asv108]

I would rather see AAC with proprietary DRM rather than all these music services using WMA with MS's DRM scheme. Really, any DRM scheme is not going to be an acceptable for a viable music service in the long run, unless it allows for seemless format shifting which totally kills the need for DRM in the first place. Granted for most CASUAL music listeners something like the ITMS DRM scheme is acceptable, but for people who buy a lot of music and care about sound quality none of the major services out there cater to audiophiles.

Now most people will start clammering about how the majority of music buyers can listen to 128kpbs aac, mp3, etc, but the people who spend a lot of money on stereo stuff are also the same people who buy the most music. The only pay music site I've seen that caters to audiophiles is livephish.com which offers NON DRMED audio downloads available as a low bitrate mp3 or for audiophile's lossless flac at a higher price. For a music service to truly reach all potential customers it needs to provide multiple quality levels for consumers with different needs.