Monday, January 16, 2006
Gates Unveils his 'Urge'
Posted by Jeremy Charette in "CONTENT" @ 01:00 PM
"Bill Gates aims to take over your living room and late Wednesday he unveiled a new music service and new software to do it. Using an appearance with Justin Timberlake, the Microsoft chairman debuted a new music service, Urge, to directly compete with the iTunes music store and interface. Urge launches with over 2 million tracks for purchase or as part of an all-you-can eat subscription, an option the iTunes music store doesn't have. The offering will include exclusive material from MTV, though it will not be compatible with iPods, which are currently the most popular MP3 player."
Microsoft is trying to beat Apple at it's own game by offering more options, and aligning themselves with popular music outlets such as MTV and VH1. I think offering customers the option of purchasing individual tracks or an all-you-can-eat subscription is going to be a key if they want to take market share from Apple. For their sake, I hope they advertise the heck out of it just as Apple has done with the iPod. Now, if they can just find a way to make it work with the iPod too...
Microsoft is trying to beat Apple at it's own game by offering more options, and aligning themselves with popular music outlets such as MTV and VH1. I think offering customers the option of purchasing individual tracks or an all-you-can-eat subscription is going to be a key if they want to take market share from Apple. For their sake, I hope they advertise the heck out of it just as Apple has done with the iPod. Now, if they can just find a way to make it work with the iPod too...
