Slashdot Mirror
OD2 Launches Penny-Per-Song Streaming Jukebox
securitas writes "BBC Technology's Darren Waters reports that UK digital music service OD2 launched its 350,000-song SonicSelector streaming 'digital jukebox' for a penny per song a day ahead of the iTunes Europe debut. The service (co-founded by Peter Gabriel) is available only in 'UK, France, Germany and Italy and will only work with users of Windows Media Player' 9. NewsFactor and The Register have descriptions of the pay-per-use / a la carte service. More at the Financial Times and Reuters via ZDNet UK. You can also read the previous OD2 Slashdot discussion."
sod using WMP9. No way I could live with that. I'm not even asking for non-DRM'd files (although that would be ideal), but something a bit more cross platform is a pre-req for me. I should be able to play it on what software on whichever OS I choose.
A penny per song is a nice deal, and the 350.000-track database should contain something for most people's taste - but why only UK, France, Germany and Italy? What about us in the rest of Europe?
The article states that OD2 is "Europe's leading music download firm", and I've never heard of the company - which might explain why the service will not be available in my country...
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
With the massive proliferation of online music distribution services popping up all over the internet could this finally make the RIAA take notice that the old channels of distribution are finally dead and they need to reinvent themselves to stay alive? It will only be a matter of time before non-RIAA artists starting getting exposure through these new channels and the RIAA loses their shakey grip on the industry. Maybe they will never actually admit to being dinosaurs but that won't stop them from becoming extinct.
Please do not let scientific accuracy interfere with the intended humourous/interesting/insightful value of this comment
This new service package sounds interesting, but honestly, all it seems like to me is an extended preview that you pay for.
Granted its only 1P, but their ultimate goal is to get people to buy the whole song...and this sounds like kind of a scummy way to do it.
Unfortunately, this may be the only way they are ABLE to do it because I'm sure they have to pay the labels for the streaming rights to the song, so they couldn't just offer up a whole preview for free.
I'm curious though, can anybody spot any difference between the sites that use OD2's main product other than the brand name/images/colorscheme slapped onto the webpages?
As far as I know they all use the same catalogue, same terms, and same price, so I can't see how they are differentiated at all other than by Brand.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I don't know. I mean, a penny-a-song is pretty cheap. But, something about me wants to pay once and be able to play a song as much as I want.
If I kinda of only liked the song and wanted to hear it only once in a while. I'd probably wait for them to play it on the radio. If I really liked a song, I'd pay a buck so I could listen to it when ever I wanted and be done with it.
The only time I see this as useful is if you are playing a song that you don't like that much, but somebody else would. For example, hosting a party or you have a date at your house and you figure Wierd Al isn't going to set the mood you want.
I just don't see those situations of use setting up a sustainable business model for the costs they are going to endure. Of course, if it becomes _the_ method for DJ'ing. You might get the volume you need, but I still doubt it.
Of course, this is just my opinion and I could be wrong (and frequently am).
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! -Homer Simpson
This looks like an excellent way of "browsing" for music which is not played on the radio. I mean, it's not really competing with the $.99 "own the song"-price of iTunes, but rather it seems like a neat way to preview a lot of songs once (at a penny each) then buy the ones you like on cd or from iTunes.
It's not ahead of the iTunes Europe debut... I live in the UK, I have a UK credit card, and I have downloaded music in my iTunes folder - the iTunes UK, France and Germany stores are open.
There's a difference between won't and don't. Some of us, though you may find it hard to believe, don't care much about the sticker price of a working environment, so long as it gets the job done in a manner that's acceptable. It just happens to be that one of the best environments available today can be downloaded for free off the 'net (or paid for from a vendor like Red Hat).
I, for one, would be perfectly happy to pay for an iTunes-like service (their restrictions are acceptable to me, though I'd prefer either MP3- or Ogg Vorbis-formatted files; the former is extremely portable, the latter is very nice and reasonably portable), just like I'd be happy to pay for an operating system which suited me. It's a pity that since my operating system *happens* to be free, I can't pay anybody to let me access their service :)
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)