- December 20, 2010 6:45 am
Cricket Wireless doesn’t have the largest network, fastest data network, or latest phones. What they do have, however, is a new $55/month unlimited voice/text/data plan that comes complete with music — music subscription service that is. Somehow, this little carrier that could wooed the big four American music labels (EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner) into giving Cricket Wireless users full access to millions of songs on the cheap. Debuting this new service come by way of the new Samsung Suede featurephone.
The phone itself isn’t anything to write home about. Though it does contain at least one unique feature — a “special” memory card. Said card is encrypted in an attempt to prevent people from copying music off of the card and then sharing it with the world. Such a feature isn’t surprising given major music labels are involved and was no doubt done to appease their over-controlling ways.
While we’re on the topic of memory cards and music, we’ll point out that the SD card is 4 GB in size and large enough for a claimed 3,000 songs. However, real-world storage will be far less. “Decent” quality digital music is typically encoded at 256Kbps. At that rate, you’re looking at `200-300 songs per gigabyte. So the company’s 3,000 claim isn’t very realistic.
Look for the Samsung Suede to debut at the upcoming 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
- November 17, 2010 6:36 am
Hulu Plus was a valiant effort by the big TV networks to jump into this whole web streaming revolution. But a high price, usage of ads in a paid product, and a selection that wasn’t exactly spectacular marred the service from the start. Since then, we’ve heard Hulu execs claim that it is doing amazingly well (summarized quote of course). Though it can’t be doing all that well if we’re looking at a new, lower price this morning…
- September 20, 2010 6:01 am
I remember back in the day a there was a little service called Napster. It was a great service — for end users. Big name labels and many artists alike hated it. Fast forward many years and the tables are changing on this whole P2P/file sharing thing. While big name labels are still playing stupid, denying file-sharing’s importance, many smaller (and even some larger artists) are finding that it [file sharing] isn’t actually all that bad, and in many cases, can help them better connect with their fans. But this isn’t a post about failed business models.
Napster has come full circle. Once a desktop-only multimedia solution, it is now an iPhone app. Granted, Napster’s entire business model itself hardly resembles anything it once did as it has turned into more of a subscription-based music rental service. Still, in the midst of it all, those who still have a thing for Napster can once again get their fix.
KaZaa’s old model may be down and out for the count, but the men behind the old green giant are trying at this whole digital music thing once again with a new subscription/social service called “Rdio”.
The social aspect of Rdio will apparently focus around the ability to friend other Ridio users, see what other users are listening to, and comment accordingly. Hmmm, sounds a lot like, Last.fm and several other lesser known music streaming services.
Oh, and all this can be had for $5-$10/month. Can’t blame the guys for trying, but I just don’t see anything here that would make me want to pay, let alone use the service. Anyone else having a “been there done that” moment? Would you pay for it?
After Nokia’s less than steller Q3 results, the last thing the company needs on their hands and blood filled record books is another failure in the wings. Because that is what their “Comes With Music” service is — an epic failure. Don’t just take my rantings for it. The numbers which were leaked to Music Ally show that as of July, they have a paltry 107,00 active Comes With Music users in 9 markets worldwide. If you’re looking for some more “down to earth” analogy, 107,000 users is (provided by Wikipedia):
Yes, these are real countries. Why pick fun at someone else’s misfortune? Well, I’m kinda sick that way. Also, any company that thinks shackling music with any form of DRM and then charging outlandish prices like…let’s say 100 EUR per year is either stupid, completely blind to the market, or self sabotaging themselves. The actual breakdown of CWM is as follows:
- UK (launched Oct 08): 32,728
- Singapore (Feb 09): 19,318
- Australia (Mar 09): 23,003
- Switzerland (Jun 09): 560
Pretty disappointing eh? Though Nokia has already gone on to claim “poor marketing” and not enough “support” behind the initiative is to blame. Because, you know, it couldn’t have anything to do with the totalitarian DRM BS, over priced dollar amount, or overall incompetent decisions made from within. Na. It was definitely because they didn’t plaster enough billboards up everywhere. And they wonder why their market share is tanking…
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