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AOL Music Now Relaunches Music Service
Planetrudy writes "Reuters reports that AOL has launched a new version of its Music Now subscription service. It's web-based, slick, performs well (fast page loads and downloads), and contains over 2.5M songs and 'thousands of videos.' This launch seems to be in line with AOL's 'tearing down the wall around the garden' strategy."
This launch seems to be in line with AOL's 'tearing down the wall around the garden' strategy
Sounds more like their "copy a business model in desperation and be second rate" strategy.
Whats next for AOL releasing all our credit card information to the government on music purchased?
http://www.musicnow.com/
I am boycotting AOL and will instead continue to download music from AllOfMP3.com. The artists don't get any money from my investment, but I would be happy to donate some money if only they'd set up a PayPal donation box on their site or something.
Translation: If you're using Windows, you have an MS DRM-compliant player (Windows Media Player) installed. You therefore don't need iTunes. It gives you DRM-cripped windows media files, and it requires that you run IE, with ActiveX and Javascript turned on.
Tearing down the wall around the garden? Hardly. Just changing the name spraypainted on the Gates.
Always nice to have a bit more competition...whether the market is already saturated is another matter. Still, bravo to AOL for this.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
Went to AOL's home page to check this out, and there on page one was the ad for 10 Million Singles! Thought, "Wow, four times more than the article stated!", then discovered it was a dating site advertisement, sigh.
Aha, there is another link that goes to AOL's music service... Alas, it's one of those:
- 30 day free trial
- enter your
billing information first
kind of "offers", not my cup of tea.For those who care, the "Service Agreement" which you really should read before signing up is more than 5000 words long. Good luck reading and understanding what's new and different about AOL for this offering.
Of course the very first provision of their service agreement is: " We may modify these Terms of Service at any time.... "
YMMV
Personally I'd be afraid to purchase anything from them. With AOLs history, I'd expect to be signing up for one of those CD clubs where you get a CD every month for life and can't cancel. I can see that with AOL. Also, it makes me fear for my personal information. Should I cancel the service, will my information be sold? Leaked? How in-depth will their sales reporting data be?
Last month you purchased the new album from SomeStupidArtist - we thought you'd like to hear the new release from a similar group called SomeStudidTeenAct
Sorry, no sale. Three reasons:
1) It's still pay-to-play (you stop paying, songs stop playing)
2) Won't play on 78% of the players in circulation (i.e. iPods)
3) It's AOL, for God's sake
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
I know that its fashionable to bash AOL, I participate in it myself. I have found though, that for newer users especially seniors citizens find alot of what AOL has to offer less intimidating than being let loose on the wilds of the internet. Opening up that for all and going to a branded advertising base could really turn things around for them. Most already make concessions for AIM, how long until other AOL services and features are more accepted now that there isnt a price tag attached? I suspect more than a few will their way into the accepted mainstream.
Reuters reports that AOL has launched a new version of its Music Now subscription service. It's web-based, slick, performs well (fast page loads and downloads), and contains over 2.5M songs, 'thousands of videos' and subscribers complete browsing history. This launch seems to be in line with AOL's 'tearing themselves a new asshole that would shame goatse' strategy."
AOL Music Now Launches Music Service!: noone cares
AOL Music Now Relaunches Music Service!: noone cares still
BTW I really enjoy their pink "only works in US" creeping bar.
It's about time music is sold from a single retailer worldwide, online. It's not that we have a local Britney Spears to translate and resing the songs, so what's with that non-sense? Only shows how desperately out of tune with the world the recording/movie industry is.
In bold red text at the top of the page: "At this time, AOL Music Now is only available for use within the United States."
What a nice thing to see the first time I visit.
I think I'll stream from home, thanks. Because when I get back home from work I won't have to worry about whether or not music I own can play on my audiotron, any of my linux boxes, my ipod, etc. And, as an added bonus, not only will my credit card info will remain (at least a little) more secure, I will also have less junk mail piled up on my doorstep when I get there.
Nice try, but unless it's offering plain old MP3s that I can play when, where and how I want, the service is completely useless to me.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Pay per song, no DRM, then I am in that market.
If I have to choose between DRM Music, and Ad Music, I would choose Ad Music.
Because DRM music is little better than random bits in Linux.
The gods demand that you view what AOL has done wrong! Well, anyway it will be interesting. http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/malfy.html
Perhaps all these new music stores/revamps should adopt Microsoft's new trademark
Since this is AOL-branded, I suppose it'll basically be stocked with 2.5 million versions of entries from Britney Spears' & Jessica Simpson's discography.
Pi Ran Out
Cripes, first there's an article on how 'good' some AOL commercials are, and now this. What, is it 'advertise AOL' week?
Strangely, my 'confirmation' word to type at the bottom of this is 'promote'...
Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
I don't know how this is possible, but the encodings sound *worse* than XM streams. It's WMA, so of course it's going to sound bad at any bitrate below about 150kbps, but the clips I listened to were around 32. Why do they even bother?
At my age I find coming up with a witty signature too exhausting.
You have new DRM! I can't wait to see the log of user searches, coupled with music downloads... (7457865865) search string: cheating wife (7457865865) song: "eminem - kim"
Winamp can be used to get AOL Music Now.
Music Now Terms of Service
Welcome to Music Now (the "Service"), which is provided by Music Now and its affiliates (collectively, "we" or "us"). The following terms constitute a binding agreement between you and us that govern your use of the Service ("Terms of Service").
Please review these terms carefully. BY USING THE SERVICE OR BY MAKING PURCHASES FROM THE SERVICE, YOU SIGNIFY YOUR AGREEMENT TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. Your agreement to these terms means that you consent to our privacy policy, you agree to transact with us electronically, and you consent that any dispute that you have with us must be resolved in Virginia. Do not sign up or use the Service if you do not agree to these terms.
CHANGES TO THESE TERMS. We may modify these Terms of Service at any time. We will provide at least thirty (30) days' notice before any material changes take effect. If you disagree with the changes to this Agreement, you must cancel your Service before the modifications take effect. Your ongoing use of the Service after the changes take effect signifies your agreement to the new terms.
THE SERVICE. This Service offers you the ability to buy, play and download digital songs, video and other content ("Entertainment Content"). The level of features offered by the Service will depend on the plan and price packages selected by you. You can find a description of the available Service packages, as such packages may exist and change from time to time, by going to the "Customer Support" area on the Service. You understand and agree that the Service will work only with compatible personal computers and devices. Please visit the "Customer Support" area on the Service for the most current information on compatible devices. Each package will be subject to additional terms that apply to you. These terms may include rules on the number of personal computers that you may use for the Service or the number of times or length of time that you can copy Entertainment Content on a disk or portable device. You agree that the terms in the package selected by you supplement these Terms of Service. Unless you are on a special commitment plan, you may upgrade, downgrade or cancel your Service at any time. The Service is for your personal use only. You may not use the Service for commercial purposes. You may not use the Service in a way that violates the law, these Terms of Service, our property rights or the property rights of others, including our vendors, the recording companies or recording artists. We may add, discontinue, or change any feature of the Service at any time.
PURCHASED DOWNLOADS. "Purchased Downloads" are files of Entertainment Content that you have purchased and can download to and store on the hard drive of your computer. Purchased Downloads may be played as often as you like on the same personal computer to which they are downloaded, may be copied onto a disk and may be transferred to other compatible digital devices, all in conformance with the rules applicable to each Purchased Download when it is purchased. Downloads may be purchased individually, collectively as albums, or, in some cases, only in the form of an album or other bundled programming. Each Purchased Download is final and nonrefundable at the time you make your purchase, even if you do not download your Purchased Downloads. Your ability to download any Purchased Download will expire ninety (90) days after you make your purchase. Because the companies that provide the Entertainment Content to us may have different rules concerning how their content may be used, your ability to transfer or make copies ("burns") of Purchased Downloads may vary, depending on the rights that the respective companies' controlling rights in the Purchased Downloads have granted to us. Presently, Purchased Downloads may be transferred only to compatible portable digital devices supporting the Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform. Please go to the "Customer Support"
The same reason they use anything AOL.
1) It's still pay-to-play (you stop paying, songs stop playing)
2) Won't play on 78% of the players in circulation (i.e. iPods)
You know all those shiny Apple DRM-crippled AAC files you paid for? Stop paying for iPods and eventually they'll "stop playing" for you portably.
Da Blog
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"This launch seems to be in line with AOL's 'tearing down the wall around the garden' strategy."
Right in line with their "think outside the box" and "make the pie higher" strategies.
Just like the AOL account I had a few years ago that was free for the first 90 days. Tried canceling the service after 45 and they still got 15 bucks out of me by the time I was finally able to get them to cancel the account. IMHO, AOL's "recent" track record with badware, giving out search results etc.. etc.. is nothing new. Their business model is not about their customers it's about the buck and there is no way I will ever give them another one. I will give them credit for being one of the pioneers of the Internets growth and being one of the first access portals for the masses, other than that they should have stayed in the 80's/90's which is how many millions of dollars they are going to milk out of the poor netziens out there.
I tried my usual searches for a couple of slightly obscure bands (e-type, sonata arctica) and got no results. Same as every other commercial service. This is what I mostly used P2P for, to find songs that were impossible to find commercially in my country, so this service is fairly useless to me - same as the others.
ALso, the site seems to have collapsed now - nice first impression guys, fail under load on your relaunch day.
For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke
Winamp can do some damage to iTunes. IF AOL markets it wisely, IF the make the interface as easy as iTunes, IF they make their music store as easy as iTunes, IF they can get their service to work with 70% of the music players out there, then yes, then can hurt iTunes.
But if AOL was so compenent, they would not be near bankruptcy would they?
-- I doubt, therefore I might be.
Honestly, what advantage do one gets compared to buying physical media or even iTunes stuff.
Or stuff in non DRMed music shops (http://www.emusic.com)
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Recorded music has a track record in which the buyer gets the right to play as many times, whenever he wants, the music he has bought.
All the stuff you are mentioning is not analogous to recorded music.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
...it is the fault of APPLE which REFUSES to license FairPlay to anyone.
Apple licensed Fairplay to Motorola who currently sells two versions of their phones, the ROKR and popular RAZR, with iTunes playback capability.
What is the difference between Apple "refusing" to license Fiarplay at a low price and 3rd parties (except for motorola) refusing to meet Apple's price for Fiarplay?
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
What I mentioned is exactly the business model of this AOL service, regardless of the track record.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Yes you can sell it. Have you never been to a used CD store?
Manufactured CDs are pressed by companies that have purchased mechanical reproduction rights to recordings. The physical object so licenced can be re-sold as property. However, the recording contained on it does not have any subsequent transferrable mechanical reproduction rights. You cannot legally sell your own copies of such-licenced CDs. What you would be selling are what are known as unauthorised copies, or bootlegs. Any copies you make of Apple's licenced downloads translated into any other media and try to sell are similarly unauthorised.
Don't believe me? Why not make yourself a shiny CD of some of those Apple tracks and go try and sell it to a used CD store. They will laugh you right out of the joint.
Similarly, you could make a CD of pay-per-month M$ "Janus" downloads and go try and sell it. You will get the same response. The similarity of response from vendors concerning your ability to resell the "backups" of these licenced downloads should tell you something about what it is you actually "own".
You betray a fundamental misunderstanding of what Apple is licencing to you. You are not buying transferrable property, you are paying for a licence. The key difference is that M$ offers two main licencing schemes: pay-per-download (similar to Apple's) and pay-per-month. Apple does not currently offer a similar technology to offer pay-per-month download licences for its FairPlay DRM system.
Da Blog
In the case of iTunes, the copyright owner has not licenced you to make a mechanical reproduction, or copy. With Apple's backup, there is no licensing of mechanical reproduction. That is why it is a backup, and does not enjoy first sale rights.
Your backup of Apple DRM-crippled files is not "a particular, lawfully made copy of the protected work". But hey, if you think otherwise, why not make a few and go around selling them? After all, why bother paying serious mechanical reproduction rights if you can just licence such a thing from Apple for $1?
You might first want to check Apple's specific disclaimer concerning your rights of re-sale in the iTunes ToS:
You can argue that where first sale applies (specifically the US, and not most other WIPO treay countries), you have a right to re-sell the hard drive upon which the original download resides. In that case, you're obligated to destroy all your "backups" and derivatives of the files, or to transfer them to the new owner. However, Apple's ToS specifically mitigates against this kind of licence transfer. iTunes is very specific in stating, over and over, that you are not buyig products, but licencing a service. You will notice that the full title of iTunes is in fact the "iTunes Music Store SERVICE".
In EU countries, which do not use the concept of "first sale" but instead rely on the expansive "rights exhaustion" (mainly because of the union of anglo-saxon and roman law), you're on firmer ground in terms of re-selling that hard disk with the downloads. But that's why Apple has beenrunning into more difficulties with EU countries insisting that the iPod ecosystem be more open and less monopolistic.
Da Blog