A new legal music download service for PCs has been unveiled, boasting the largest legitimate online catalog of songs to date, but BuyMusic.com still might be hampered because it lacks the freedom offered by free file-sharing networks, experts said. Aliso Viejo, California-based BuyMusic.com will sell tracks from its growing list of 300,000 songs starting at 79 cents each, with albums selling for $7.95, the company announced at the service’s launch.
Thumbs down on the author of this story. Really. Have we become such a "free-at-all-costs" e-society with near-religious zealotry (and hackers as our patron saints) that the specter of a legitimate music service is looked upon with such obvious disdain? I was really offended that even as you tried to present Buymusic.com's chief value offering, you couldn't even do THAT without presenting it in a negative light. While it may be true that there are contrasts between this service and the illegal free share services before it, the fact that Buymusic.com has indeed built a substantial AND legitmate alternative with a very attractive consumer value proposition should have been something to lift up as a shining example of what should be (or at least has the potential to be); instead you took an implied position of "this will probably fail, because it isn't free." Now, to be true, I've been in the online since well before it was the internet, and have gloriously and greedily pursued and accepted free media in all its evolutions for at least the past fifteen years or so. So it would be wrong to characterize me as a music or movie exec or legal wonk trying to control the internet. On the contrary; I was put off enough by the quite negative angle (beyond the level of skepticism a business writer is normally afforded) you took. If you are to be a fair journalist, be objective. Look at the benefits for what they bring, and feel free to share your skepticism. Hey, I think your "Napster Lifetime Membership" card just fell out of your pocket. You might want to pick that up.
Buy.com Debuts Legit Music Downloads – Strings Attached
Posted by: Jay Lyman July 22, 2003 09:17 AMA new legal music download service for PCs has been unveiled, boasting the largest legitimate online catalog of songs to date, but BuyMusic.com still might be hampered because it lacks the freedom offered by free file-sharing networks, experts said. Aliso Viejo, California-based BuyMusic.com will sell tracks from its growing list of 300,000 songs starting at 79 cents each, with albums selling for $7.95, the company announced at the service’s launch.
I was really offended that even as you tried to present Buymusic.com's chief value offering, you couldn't even do THAT without presenting it in a negative light.
While it may be true that there are contrasts between this service and the illegal free share services before it, the fact that Buymusic.com has indeed built a substantial AND legitmate alternative with a very attractive consumer value proposition should have been something to lift up as a shining example of what should be (or at least has the potential to be); instead you took an implied position of "this will probably fail, because it isn't free."
Now, to be true, I've been in the online since well before it was the internet, and have gloriously and greedily pursued and accepted free media in all its evolutions for at least the past fifteen years or so. So it would be wrong to characterize me as a music or movie exec or legal wonk trying to control the internet.
On the contrary; I was put off enough by the quite negative angle (beyond the level of skepticism a business writer is normally afforded) you took.
If you are to be a fair journalist, be objective. Look at the benefits for what they bring, and feel free to share your skepticism. Hey, I think your "Napster Lifetime Membership" card just fell out of your pocket. You might want to pick that up.