snapshot 9/25/07

Amazon launches early version of music service
http://gigaom.com/2007/09/25/amazon-mp3-vs-apple-itunes-whos-better-now/
Amazon.com Inc launched an early version of its highly anticipated digital music download store, which is seen as a potential rival to Apple Inc's dominant iTunes system. Amazon's store, named "Amazon MP3," allows users to buy music without copy protection technology, so that the songs can play on a variety of devices including Apple's iPod. Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than half of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents, the online retailer said in a statement.

U.S. music companies, concerned about piracy enabled by file-sharing Web site, are mulling new business models with a goal of increasing digital revenue as CD sales drop more sharply than anticipated. They also hope to create alternatives to iTunes to boost their negotiating power against Apple when licensing contracts are renewed.

Press Release


The iFlop
Six months later iTV is a flat-out iFlop. Renamed Apple TV upon launch, the ballyhooed box has sold perhaps 250,000 units--far behind the 1 million sold for the iPhone, which was priced twice as high and has been on the market less than half as long. Apple, which declined to let FORBES interview Jobs and other execs for this story, provides detailed sales data for the iPod and other digital wonders but won't reveal any numbers for Apple TV; apparently the truth is too humiliating.


What’s the Future of the Music Industry? A Freakonomics Quorum
It strikes me as ironic that a new technology (digital music) may have accidentally forced record labels to abandon the status quo (releasing albums) and return to the past (selling singles). I sometimes think that the biggest mistake the record industry ever made was abandoning the pop single in the first place. Customers were forced to buy albums to get the one or two songs they loved; how many albums can you say that you truly love, or love even 50% of the songs — 10? 20? But now the people have spoken: they want one song at a time, digitally please, maybe even free (yikes: big can of worms, which is addressed ably below).

So what really happened to the music industry, and what will it look like in five or ten years?


Amazon's new site design: what's different?
Don't expect any drastic changes. Most of the updates are cosmetic. For example, you can choose categories to search and browser through a navigation panel on the left side of any screen. You know, pretty much just like you can do now. The difference is you'll be able to choose categories and subcategories by hovering your mouse. No more waiting for a fresh page to load. Overall, it's a bit more web 2.0-ish. Don't be surprised if you don't see the new site the next time you load Amazon.com. The new design is being rolled out slowly, and may not be available to all users right away.