UK retailer Tesco recently launched a new service for music downloads. Starting next month, Tesco Digital will give users access to music downloads for iPods and other MP3 players with a selection of more than 3.3 millions tracks available for download.
Less importantly, there will also be about 100 flash games available for free download.
The service will be available from the Tesco Extra store in Portman Road, Wokingham. We’re sure this isn’t the only store the service will be available from, but we found this news on a local website.
Although Tesco is only beginning with legal music downloads, it’s expected that in the future, there will be movies and TV shows available for legal download. With the sort of sway that Tesco has over UK consumers, you can expect that this will be a big thing. Tesco, however, has never been a champion in terms of selling music to consumers. Retailers such as Asda have always done a much better job at bringing cheap music to the general public.
MySpace is apparently on the verge of launch a site for music downloads, ringtone downloads and, most importantly, desktop wallpaper.
People will also be able to buy music merchandise and concert tickets from the new service. We’ve been hearing rumblings of this “amazing” MySpace music-download site for a while, but it looks like it’s finally coming to fruition.
No word yet on how much the music downloads will cost, but you can be sure that they’ll be more expensive than on filesharing networks.
Although we don’t like MySpace and its horrible profile pages, there have been some decent artists who broke into the mainstream thanks to the website. We adore Lily Allen so we’ll be keeping an eye on the new website.
Sony BMG, Universal and Warner are all on board with MySpace, so the choice of music downloads should be pretty decent. MySpace is yet to announce an official launch date for the service.
Another new website for music downloads slipped into our radar this week, this time its MusicMP3.ru. The guys at MusicMP3 were kind enough to open an account for us to check out the service. After a quick browse around, we were surprised to find the new Moby album available for download for $2.10. We bought the album right away on principle.
The album has only been released for a few days in the UK and the US. Looks like we got a bargain music download. The rest of MusicMP3 is cool enough. There’s a decent selection of tracks for downloading. What is amazing is that it isn’t just the Moby album that costs 2 bucks. Everything on the website is available at totally reduced prices.
The guys behind the website claim that it’s all completely legal and that they can do this because they are in Russia. There is also mention of an organization called ROMS. We have no idea what’s going on here, because brand new albums are available for about 1/8 of what you’d pay on iTunes.
There’s tonnes of new stuff on the website, too, as well as older albums. If you need some inspiration, they also have music news and album reviews to check out.
When you’re getting music downloads for this cheap, it raises the question why you wouldn’t just use a filesharing program or BitTorrent. Still, we did feel slightly pleased with getting a bargain, even if we can’t work out how this is possible.
The quality of the files is pretty high and everything downloads fast enough. Songs for 15 cents? Get them while they’re hot. Only problem is that you can’t pay by Paypal or credit card. Take that for what it’s worth.
MySpace is apparently close to a deal with Sony BMG, Warner Music and EMI to offer legal music downloads. The service could be operational later this year if all goes well.
MySpace users could soon have legal music downloads — and with the millions of MySpacer around the world, this could be huge business. Universal isn’t likely to get on board because of a copyright dispute it has with MySpace.
Deals with the other three labels could be inked by the end of this month with the music download service to follow shortly.
Record labels will receive a percentage from ads and users will and the songs will be uploaded to the website by users of imeem. Facebook is yet to make a move into legal music downloads, but one feels that it’s only a matter of time now. Social networking is big business and with millions of users already signed up and keen to get free music downloads, it’s a surprise that this hasn’t been done sooner.
Big news about music downloads this week. Rumors have surfaced once again of iTunes offering a subscription-based service that would allow users to get unlimited music downloads for a fee. The FT has reported that Apple is in talks with major record labels to make this dream a reality.
The new business model would give buyers of new iPods and iPhones unlimited music downloads for the entire life of their device. When you buy an iPod or iPhone, you will have the option of paying a one-time, premium fee to get the service.
It’s unclear at the moment how much this fee will be, but a lot of it rests on how much Apple is willing to pay record labels to cover the service. There’s no word yet on when, if ever, this service will be launched, but it will certainly shake up the world of music downloads if it happens.
Do you download music? If not then you’re very much in the minority. Research by Forrester Research Inc. has shown that by 2011, half of all music bought in the US will be music downloads; by 2012, music downloads will surpass CD sales. Legal downloads of MP3 music files are predicted to grow at an impressive rate of about 23% per year for the coming 5 years.
These are mind-boggling figures; and these deal with just legitimate recorded downloads. Free MP3 downloads are not included in these totals and could probably far exceed the legal numbers. Make no mistake: MP3 downloads are big business, and they are here to stay.
This change in consumer focus will change the industry as we know it. Sure buying online is convenient – and in today’s I-want-it-right-now culture that is key – but we will inevitably lose the romanticism associated with browsing through CD stores looking for the latest releases.
