PressPlay + Roxio?

securitas writes "The NY Times and the LA Times (via SJ Mercury News) report that Roxio is close to a $30 million deal to buy Pressplay from Universal and Sony. The struggling joint-venture has less than 50,000 subscribers after three years. Roxio bought the Napster brand and assets at a bankruptcy auction last year and plans to resurrect Napster as a legal service."

The reason people steal music

[A Proud American]

(in my opinion, that is)

I honestly feel that the decline of music quality and the tiredness of the rock genre after nearly 50 years of three-chord songs has helped to contribute to the alarming rate at which people steal music from online sources.

Who in their right mind would pay eighteen dollars for a CD that probably contains only one or two good songs?

I'm not saying stealing is the right thing to do, and I certainly wouldn't teach my children how to steal music online, but I kind of feel like the music industry "had it coming", so to speak.

It won't work...

[mschoolbus]

Just like the previous how many attempts to make a legal way of handling this. Just stick to an open p2p network, its up to your morals on what music you download.

Perhaps the success of the Apple Music Store ...

[burgburgburg]

finally got the suits at Universal and Sony to recognize that it wasn't that people weren't willing to pay for music, it was that they weren't willing to subscribe to a bad service with ridiculous restrictions that offered very little value. Of course this raises the question: how well positioned is Roxio to create a for-money "Napster" that would have the ease of AMS?

a company that wants people to burn music

[the_2nd_coming]

and they buy a music serive...hmmm..sounds a lot like what apple is doing with music store...perhaps roxio will set up a similar system?

Napster brand

[benjiboo]

"... plans to resurrect Napster as a legal service"

Aren't they coming a bit late to the party? People are doing much more exciting things with file sharing nowadays. It was the idea behind Napster and the time it hit the scene which led to it's success, as opposed to the (very simple) technology. The addition of the type of features which I'd want to see in an online music service (searches, previews etc) would lead to a product completetly different to Napster.

The success of ITunes shows that a decent product will do well in the popularity stakes regardless of brand. Though the Napster brand will bring a bit of recongnition, I can't see it making customers any more likeley to buy overpriced, bad or crippled (in terms of usage) music.

Great opportunity for Roxio

[Andy Dodd]

If they can quickly "get in on the ground floor", Roxio stands to make a killing if they rearchitecture Pressplay into a system modeled after Apple's music store but PC-accessible.

Essentially, Roxio has 6 months or so to enter the market with a comparable product. If they're late, Apple's planned PC port will enter and become entrenched. If Roxio enters first with a decent product, they will become entrenched in the PC market and Apple will be forced into a niche market of Mac users.

In short, Apple was incredibly stupid not to make their store web-based or have plans for PC availability in the very short term, as it leaves the PC market wide open for someone to copy Apple's service and take over the market. I'd love for Apple to win this, but now they had better move quickly or they'll be forced to stay in their niche.

It will work

[SweetAndSourJesus]

Apple has proven that it can.

Leave it up to morals? I think the outrageous success of Kazaa and gnutella are testament to the effectiveness of this strategy. You can't rely on people being honest when there's money involved. Sad as it is, we're all thieves when we get the chance.

Re:Who cares

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't own a Mac & I don't plan to right now ($$$!) I would love to be able to leagally get the songs I want and I don't want to wait until the end of the year when Apple gets iTunes out for the PC.

Yes, but the problem with that is that a "iTunes-like PC solution" is going to disappear without a trace in a few months when Apple ships the actual iTunes for Windows.

Most people are just happy with Kazaa

Most people don't steal their music, dude. Most people know right from wrong. The people who use Kazaa are in the TINY minority compared to the people who actually pay for what they take.

But will stealing music change anything?

[Monkeylaser]

Why do these three chord songs continue to be popular? Is it a result of marketing or do they have a particular resonance within us as humans which makes us go, I'm no monkey but I know what I like? On another note, I've recently been exposed to music from the Baroque and classical periods to a large extent and find it very enjoyable, but most people my age find it boring. It could be a result of attention spans that have been consistently shortened. Good music might not necessarily result from a new business model, just wider distribution of that which is listened to already anyway.

Go Apple, Go Roxio

[Cackmobile]

Hopefully Roxio will sort out a good system. EZ-CD kicks arse so hopefully they can do something like Apple. The biggest problem they have is cost. I think the per-song price needs to be lower. If it was 20-50 cents, I believe you could make it work. I for one would buy. I don't particular like using napster, kazaa etc. With all the broken files and poor quality etc its just a pain but I put up with it cause its cheaper and I can get songs that you can't buy at the local Justin Timberlake/J.Lo store.

Maybe the success of Apple is making the record companies take notice. If Roxio offered competitive pricing and a large back catalogue they could be onto a winner.

Not that easy

[burgburgburg]

Along with wanting to give a strong push to the Apple platform, Apple did not immediately rush out a Windows version because they knew that it wasn't something they needed to rush. It is not that easy to create a fully integrated tool/service/device system like iTunes/Apple Music Store/iPod. Beyond the purely technical (frontend and backend, which are each daunting) there are the esthetic/UI functional elements and the business deals that had to be put in place to create the entity as a whole. This was a not a flash in the pan. It was a well thought out, well executed business plan.

Re:Perhaps the success of the Apple Music Store ..

[feldsteins]

I think everyone who has seen the iTunes Music Store immediately began wondering who would lead the pack in bringing this model to the unwashed masses of Windows users...Apple? Someone else? Multiple companies simultaneously? Would there be a clear leader with marketplace domination?

These questions are still unanswered, but at least we know Roxio is among those entering the race with Apple.

Re:The reason people steal DIDN'T music

[telstar]

"The reason people steal DIDN'T music"

• words in Let's any mix order want we.
• 
  
  (turn monitor over for the answer to this scramble-word)

may have a chance

[asv108]

This service could have a chance, but any software that I've had the unfortunate pleasure of using from Roxio was complete crap. I'm sure that there will be a lot of "Apple Music Service Roxs!" posts, but this service could have a chance if it has a similar library while using high quality mp3's 192kpbs+ mp3 files with no DRM. Unfortunately there is a high probability that this service will be a complete failure given the companies involved.

The Apple music service is great for people who only listen to music on their ipod and computers, but most people do not own or can even justify spending $299 on a portable music player. For a music service to be successful on the PC it needs to be using a standard format (MP3) that can be used in a variety of devices (portables, Audiotron, etc). The Apple Music service is useless to me because I play all my music on my stereo via an Audiotron. Converting to mp3 sounds like shit, and the quality of 128 AAC to begin with is not high enough for a good stereo.

Again the major problem with Apple that we see time and time again is the strategy of trying to use their software innovations to sell their hardware. This is fine if your selling to Apple enthusiasts and users, but it will not work with the other 97% of computer users.

Re:Don't buy from music services

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, dude, at least you put it right out there in front, as opposed to your average Slashdotter who secretly believes that IP is immoral but who hides it behind a veil of "99 is too much" and "DRM sucks" and "it's the music industry's fault for making a product that nobody likes but that we all go through a huge amount of trouble to download anyway for some reason."

You gotta respect a guy who puts a controversial opinion right out there for all the world to see.

I Wanna Beat the Dead Horse Too!!

[LordYUK]

Seriously though, I was thinking about the Apple thing the other day, and 99 cents for a song is too much. I'm sorry, but aside from the stuff I legally own on cassette tape that I want on MP3, the stuff I download is stuff they play on the radio, which if I really wanted to could tape *gasp* off the radio and still not buy the stupid CD.

Unlike some of you (and like many of you) I buy a limited amount of CD's, but only from artists that release albums that are (IMHO) mostly good. So if there are 10 songs on a CD and 8 are good, as far as I am concerned its a good CD. If 1/10 are good, then not only am I not going to buy the CD, but I sure as heck am not going to pay anyone for that one song, which was probably forced out by the record label.

Lets think about purchasing a movie on DVD (after all, CDs and DVDs are roughly in the same 15-25 price range). Not many people are going to buy a movie if only 15 minutes of it is worth watching. Why do these record companies think that we will pay for single songs when the rest of the album blows? That'd be like spending a buck to get the Qui-Gon Darth Maul fight at the end of Episode 1, which unlike the rest of the movie was pretty damn good.

Add to that fact that there is no reason to have CD prices of 10-20 year old albums in the 15-20 price range. Its rediculous. The majority of the costs are already covered, and all the only reason I can think of is that they dont want people listening to older less money making (no concerts of dead bands, or videos, or product placment, or whatever) from a band that rocked in the past but is now gone.

I'm sorry, 99 cents a song is absurd. I dont know how they charge you, but unless the price was 25 a download sold in 5 dollar increments (so you buy 20 songs at a time, which makes more sense than 1 for 1 {note, I am assuming that if I buy 1 song, they charge me 1 dollar, and if I come back 3 hours later and get 3 songs, they charge me 3 dollars} and umpteen 1.00 transactions, which is just plain annoying).

One last thing. Treat me as if I am a thief, and I will be a thief. If you already think I steal from you RIAA, then I will continue to steal from you. Its easier to fire up Kazaa than it is to search any database you currently have.

Well, thats my rant for the day, I apologize if its less than coherent at certain points, its early and the Dew hasnt kicked in yet... =)

Good Luck Roxio

[JudgeFurious]

Cause Apple is gonna own this bitch in no time once their Windows version sees the light of day. If I were Apple I would have every available resource focused on getting that Windows version out there while the positive press is still fresh.

Not that easy...but easIER

[siskbc]

Along with wanting to give a strong push to the Apple platform, Apple did not immediately rush out a Windows version because they knew that it wasn't something they needed to rush. It is not that easy to create a fully integrated tool/service/device system like iTunes/Apple Music Store/iPod. Beyond the purely technical (frontend and backend, which are each daunting) there are the esthetic/UI functional elements and the business deals that had to be put in place to create the entity as a whole. This was a not a flash in the pan. It was a well thought out, well executed business plan.

That's true, but there's two mitigating circumstances:

1) they're buying pressplay - all jokes aside, I'm assuming they do have some know-how and architecture in place, even if they did shoot themselves in the foot with that subscription plan.

2) They have the benefit of seeing the reaction to Apple's site, to decide what to copy and what to change. Remember, "First to market" is as often a curse as a gift.

Bottom line, the 6-month lead that Roxio will have will definitely help them play catch-up, and I wouldn't bet against them being able to turn pressplay into something viable by the time Apple manages to port their system to windows. I know it'll take more than slapping a new front end, but it still could be do-able.

Re:Who cares

[tmasman]

Most people don't steal their music, dude. Most people know right from wrong.

As true as the second statement is, EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW has Kazaa on their computer. And that's not because I only know hoodlums & thieves. It's because most people don't have the option to fork up $18 for the 2 songs on a CD that they actually want to listen to.

It's not about knowing right from wrong, it's about what's reasonably realistic. $18 for 2 great songs & 8 horrible sounding pieces of CRAP is not a reasonable method to get your songs.

$0.99 a song however is a great idea & Most of the people I know would gladly pay that amount.

~ tmasman

Why Napster?

[xchino]

Why would you want to start a music store under Napster's name? Granted it has good name recognition, but it's often recognition associated with pirating music. It seems to me it would be more of a burden to lift the stigma of the name than the name is worth.

Re:The reason people steal music

[coupland]

I disagree, why do people keep blaming crappy product on the producers? Consumers drive the market, if we're swallowing terrible music by the crapload it's because we're demanding it. If there's no demand there's no supply. Jerry Springer isn't responsible for cruddy TV and CNN isn't the cause of sensational reporting, they are delivering what people are demanding. Boatloads of crap. Classical music, blues, jazz all still exist. But no one buys them. There is no supply where there is no demand. And if you want to know the source of the endless demand for crap, then my proud American, you need not look very far.