Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud
thewebblogger writes "In a move that more resembles 'me too' behavior rather than a well planned release, Best Buy has announced their own music cloud service, called simply Best Buy Music Cloud. The functionality is not complete yet; iOS / Android applications are not available at this point, and the only part that works is the Web Player. The premium version will cost $3.99/month and you'll have to upload your own music. iTunes is mandatory."
Yes but for only $3.99 a month they could own your music!
This sounds a lot like a way to add on a $3.99 recurring charge to new PC sales for Best Buy. I'd expect to see them pushing this heavily in store with new computer sales, and a lot of folk buying it then never using it. Allow cancelling only by telephone and only after waiting 20 minutes in a phone queue and that should keep their retention rate nice and high.
"Client/server" is some 70's academic hippie crap. We prefer to think of it as the "Consumer/Premium Content Provider" model. In the near future, we have high hopes for the "Serf/Lord" model. -RIAA