I n time for Microsoftis rollout of MSN Music, its long-awaited competitor to the iTunes Music Store, Walt Mossberg has penned a review of the new service for the Wall Street Journal. While he says that MSN Music has some nice features lacking in Appleis iTunes, Microsoftis offering is "no match" for iTunes. At least not yet. From his review:
Iive been testing Microsoftis new store in advance of todayis launch and comparing it with Appleis much-praised iTunes music store. While the Microsoft entry has a few nice touches, it is typical of many brand-new Microsoft products -- fairly basic and bland, but marred by some rookie mistakes and accompanied by promises to get much better over time.
He closes by saying, "Overall, MSN Music is no match for iTunes -- yet. But if you donit have an iPod and want or need to buy music in Microsoftis format, it may be a good choice over time."
You can find the full review at the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) We recommend it as an interesting read, especially for those who canit try out MSN Music for themselves, as the service is not available on the Mac.