Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft's Online Music Store

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the sound-of-monopoly-expanding dept.

jamshedji noted a short story that talks about Microsoft's Online Music Store. The market is already getting quite crowded, so it will be interesting to see what affect the monopoly's entrance makes when this goes down in the 2nd half of this year.

5 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Can you hear me now by Meneudo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Burn and re-rep? Works with iTunes and the AAC files. Who knows, M$ may have this same loophole due to their 'innovation'

    --
    ...
  2. Why is this news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Microsoft is allready in this market in Europe, and have been for some time!

    The MSN Music Club (now renamed Sonic Selector) has been going for a while now. Admittadly it isn't really powered by Microsoft, and is in fact provided by the European 'Online Disdribution' (OD2).

    I wonder if the differences between the US and European markets are going to get more, or less pronounced this year with the entry of iTunes and Napster?

  3. Re:I have one question... by Joe+U · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please don't attribute that song to Wierd Al, he didn't write or sing it.

    I have heard it several times and it's not anywhere near Wierd Al's level of quality, how someone thought it was him is beyond me.

    I believe it was done by Bob Rivers at twistedtunes.com, but I could be wrong about that.

  4. Affect, effect, this is why we need editors by Dr.+Zowie · · Score: 2, Informative
    For cryin' out loud, I doubt that the music store will have much affect, as suggested by the poster -- after all, it's not a person and therefore doesn't have moods.

    It will almost certainly have an "effect" -- that is, it will affect the market.

    Am I the only slashdot reader who rankles at our editors' lack of good English? Ferchrissakes, folks, read Strunk and White -- it's online these days.

    1. Re:Affect, effect, this is why we need editors by slamb · · Score: 3, Informative
      Am I the only slashdot reader who rankles at our editors' lack of good English?

      It bugs me, too. I saw this one in the subscriber-only preview, but I did not point it out to them because the idea of paying to be a proof-reader does not sit well with me. So I'd rather publically mock them later.

      Ferchrissakes, folks, read Strunk and White -- it's online these days.

      I hate that guide. They should have followed their own rules, particularly "Omit needless words". Look at this paragraph:

      In general, however, it is best, in writing, to avoid using so in this manner; there is danger that the writer who uses it at all may use it too often. A simple correction, usually serviceable, is to omit the word so, and begin the first clause with as:

      The same thought could be much more clearly expressed by:

      Avoid overusing so. Consider omitting it and beginning the first clause with as:

      They also seem comma-happy:

      Divide words at line-ends, in accordance with their formation and pronunciation

      Why is that comma there? There's no parenthetic expression, "in" is not a conjunction, and there's no "when" in that sentence. I'm also intuitively suspicious of it because when I say the sentence, I don't pause there. I assert that it's wrong.