Saturday, July 3, 2004
BIOS: "Downloading Is The Future Of The Music Industry"
Posted by Kent Pribbernow in "NEWS" @ 12:00 PM
"Before the launch of iTunes, music was already becoming a download market. The proliferation of MP3 players and illegal file sharing services such as Audiogalaxy and Kazaa paved the way for a legitimate download industry. As a result, by the end of 2003 the US iTunes service had delivered around 70 million tracks, demonstrating that it is possible to download music legally and make money for artists in the process."
Marc Aafjes makes some interesting points in his article, particularly the bits about Apple and its closed nature. Although AAC is an open standard, no media player hardware outside of Cupertino yet supports this format. As Aafjes points out, the first online music store to offer music in multiple formats could become most successful. Will it be Europe based OD2? Possibly, but I expect the legal music download market to become highly polarized, and remain so for at least the next 3-5 years. With Microsoft and Apple fighting it out for world domination. Then we have a new MP3 format coming down the pike which supports its own copyright protection technology. Could this MP3 format become the dark horse, upstaging both Microsoft and Apple?
Marc Aafjes makes some interesting points in his article, particularly the bits about Apple and its closed nature. Although AAC is an open standard, no media player hardware outside of Cupertino yet supports this format. As Aafjes points out, the first online music store to offer music in multiple formats could become most successful. Will it be Europe based OD2? Possibly, but I expect the legal music download market to become highly polarized, and remain so for at least the next 3-5 years. With Microsoft and Apple fighting it out for world domination. Then we have a new MP3 format coming down the pike which supports its own copyright protection technology. Could this MP3 format become the dark horse, upstaging both Microsoft and Apple?
