BuyMusic Customers Can't Transfer Songs To MP3 Players

by , 3:30 PM EDT, July 29th, 2003

Off to a rocky start, BuyMusic (BM) has a new set of problems according to an article from USA Today. The newest problem to beset the would-be iTMS competitor is that customers who have downloaded songs from the service can't transfer them to the MP3 players that BM says it supports. From USA Today:

[In] an example of the technological trickiness involved in offering users the freedom they desire while giving music labels the protections they demand, early customers have found they can't transfer the tunes they buy on BuyMusic.com to digital portables.

The Mac-only iTunes has won raves for ease of use, both in burning CDs and transferring songs to Apple's iPod players. But BuyMusic's tracks have started out as unplayable, even on portables lent to the press in a promotional blitz.

"We're working on this," says Buy.com's Scott Blum, who says the company will have the glitch fixed today and that customers who have bought tracks will receive an e-mail offering free re-downloads.

The issue with MP3 players is most likely a DRM issue. BM uses Windows Media Player for its files, and it is WMP that handles the DRM, which is why it will be necessary for these customers to download new versions of the file.

There's more information in the full article at USA Today's Web site. TMO's forum members are discussing this story in the TMO forums.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This is definitely opinion, as opposed to something we can "prove," but we feel that BM's two biggest problem are a reliance on Microsoft technologies, as well as what seems like a rush to market. BM's founder, Buy.com CEO Scott Blum, said last week that he didn't want to get beaten to market -- presumably he meant the Windows market as he was in fact already beaten to market by Apple -- like he was beaten by Amazon.com in the 1990s.

It seems that the company's rush to not be beaten has resulted in a very sloppy launch, which we think will hamper BM's growth. From inconsistent pricing, to inconsistent after-download "rights," to the fact the company forgot to block Mac users from visiting the site like it blocked non IE-using Windows users until several days after launch, to the fact that those blocks are sloppy in and of themselves (turn off Javascript on your Mac browser if you wish to peruse the site): All of those things are sloppy.

On the other hand, this is excellent advertising for Apple and the iTMS. People were blasted with coverage of how easy the iTMS was to use for weeks after the service launched, and if BM's woes get any coverage, the contrast will be plain to see. BM with Microsoft technologies is riddled with errors and end-user problems, while the iTMS with an open-standards based technology (AAC) has been just about problem-free.

Whether or not this is a factor by the time Apple brings the iTMS to Windows later this year is another issue. Certainly by then most, if not all, of the WMP based systems will have corrected some or most of their bugs and problems. It's going to be interesting to see how this market develops.

BuyMusic.com