by , 10:00 AM EDT, April 15th, 2003
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is reporting what the LA Times reported last month, that Apple will be launching its own online music service. The WSJ's piece offers the same basic information that the Times' offered -- the company will launch the service, which will integrate with iTunes, that songs will be priced at approximately US$.99, and that all five of the major music labels have signed on (at the time, the Times' reported it was 4 of the top 5 labels) -- but strangely the report has been repeated by a variety of mainstream and Mac sites alike as a brand new concept.
The article, written by Pui-Wing Tam and Anna Wilde Mathews, also says that the service will be Mac-only. We quote the article from the Australian Financial Review, as the WSJ requires a subscription:
Mr Jobs's Apple Computer Inc will be launching its own music service in coming weeks, with songs from all five major record labels.The new music service will be integrated with Apple's iTunes music software, which is used to organise and play MP3 music files. Instead of selling subscriptions, it is expected to focus on individual songs, charging consumers about US99¢ each for most tracks.
The service is said to be more consumer-friendly than most of the other legitimate online-music services, with a simplicity that makes it easy for consumers to purchase a song and move it to the popular Apple iPod devices. But it will only be available to Mac users, who comprise only about 5 per cent of the global market.
By launching his own service, Mr Jobs also is filling a crucial need for his line of Mac computers. Currently, most other online music services - including the record-label backed services pressplay and MusicNet, as well as Listen.com's Rhapsody service - do not support Apple's Macintosh software. Apple's audience remains tiny, despite the launch of Apple retail stores, new products such as servers and other new hardware and software.
You can read the full WSJ article at the Financial Review's Web site.
We are interested by the Journal's angle that one of the reasons Apple is pursuing this story is that there aren't any services that cater to Mac users. While true, and a good reason for Apple to launch such a service, the reality is that none of the existing services do it right. They all limit what you can download, or what you can do with your downloads, or the quality, or something. The labels don't get it, and the existing legit online services are a reflection of that lack of understanding.
What people want is a place to legitimately download and pay for songs with which they then can do whatever they want. Ta-da! If Apple can produce this, it will not only change the music industry, it might lure more people to the Mac platform. Digital Hub indeed.