Digital Home Thoughts: Music Streaming Coming To You From Microsoft

"Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, told The Telegraph exclusively: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently. It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.” "

The as yet named Microsoft music streaming service will likely come in free (Read: ads, ads, ads) and paid (Read: recurring monthly fees!) versions. Since they mentioned Spotify, instead of Pandora, it is likely that the service will likely be a customizable radio station where you're given access to a bountiful library of music and you create your own playlist instead of a station that plays music based on your ability to yay or nay particular songs. You can also bet that Microsoft is looking for a way to include this on the Zune. It may have taken several years, but it appears that Microsoft may finally be forming a challenger to the iTunes/iPod empire. The Zune, if it includes this new streaming service and HD Radio and FM radio on top of its existing abilities will make it a powerful and impressive media player, but I think that Apple's market share is safe for a while yet. Would a music streaming service that would work on your computer and WiFi/3G connected device interest you?