Cellphone Songs Overpriced?

Carl Bialik writes "Sprint's music store, the first major legal music-download service accessible from cellphones, is charging $2.49 per song because the recording industry and the wireless carriers are engaging in 'a dangerous fantasy,' according to the Wall Street Journal. From the article: 'Since people will pay $2.49 to download a snippet of a song, there's no reason they won't pay that much to download the whole thing. It's an enticing prospect, but one based on the idea that ringtones and downloads are similar. They're not; customers don't see them the same way and won't pay the same price for them, and no amount of wishful thinking will make them change their minds.' Last week, Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg also criticized the pricing: 'For that kind of money, you'd better really, really, really want to download that new Kenny Chesney song, RIGHT NOW, before you can get to a computer.'"

Comments

Seems logical enough

[bjorniac]

I see a lot of people questioning the reasoning here, saying that it's ridiculous to pay $2.49 or whatever for a song. The premise, however, is that people are ALREADY PAYING JUST THAT for a small section of the song as a ringtone so they will probably take the whole song for the same price. Hell, if they offer the song and ringtone snippet combined for the same price, they're probably onto a winner. I know that neither you (informed Slashdot reader) nor I (cheapskate student) would pay this much, but if people are already laying out the cash for this stuff why not sell it this convenient way?

No No No

[Mr_Silver]

Sprint's music store, the first major legal music-download service accessible from cellphones

As someone who set up and managed a major legal music-download service accessible from cellphones over three years ago I really wish the Slashdot editors would actually verify "first" claims like these.

Oh yes, and in case you were wondering, the music tracks were overpriced back then too.

People PAY for ringtones?

[ajs318]

My old Nokia 3210 had a feature called "composer" where you could type in a tune, note by note, up to 50 notes long. You got three octaves including accidentals, but only one timbre {"tinny little mobile phone speaker"}. Still, if you were canny, you could fit in just enough of the tune to recognise; and 50 notes is actually long enough to answer a telephone, so nobody is going to notice if it stops short.

My new Sony Ericsson {bought before the rootkit debacle, honest!} k750i supports the ability to download ringtones from my phone company's overpriced music store, but it also has several wireless transfer modes. And although the phone refuses to allow you to send a paid-for tone by bluetooth or infrared, there is one thing it can't or won't stop me doing, one wireless transfer mode that is available unconditionally.

If I press Menu, Entertainment, Record Sound, Select, then it uses the phone's own mic to record a sound bite -- which I can later use as a ringtone, and even send to other people by BT or IR. And it works better than you might think. Modern phone mics are quite directional; it has automatic gain control; and the ultimate frequency response is limited at playback time by the ringer speaker. These are all factors that work in your favour. What can the phone manufacturers do about this? Not a lot. They can't very well make phones with no mic; though I admit, I would certainly buy one for my mother if they did .....

I can get all the ringtones I want, just from watching the TV adverts for them -- so I must be saving a fortune! Although admittedly, it is kind of like a "walk instead of taking the bus - save a pound; walk instead of taking a taxi - save a fiver" saving, cos it's not money IO would ever have spent -- if I couldn't get them for free, I would be more than happy to do without.