News

Microsoft plans to get into music-download game

November 20, 2003

SEATTLE -- Microsoft said it plans to launch its own music download service sometime next year.

That would put Microsoft in more direct competition with Apple's popular iTunes Music Store and RealNetworks' Rhapsody music subscription service, according to an article on CNet.

It would also put the software giant in competition with partners that have helped boost the popularity of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. See related story, "Best Buy debuts kiosks to sell online music services."

BuyMusic, Musicmatch and MusicNow, which use Microsoft's Windows Media format, already offer iTunes-like services that let PC users download individual songs for about $1. Napster 2.0, the one-time outlaw download service that has been reincarnated as a legitimate music subscription service, also uses the Windows Media format.

Apple and RealNetworks' Rhapsody service don't use Windows.

Microsoft might think it needs to accelerate efforts to make its Windows Media Player dominant on many kinds of computing devices, said Matt Rosoff, tech analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft.

"I suspect this plays into a larger overall strategy," Rosoff said in the article.