Do we need a new music store?

GuyClapperton 0 Tallied Votes 247 Views Share

Nobody should have any reason to wish the fledgeling HMVDigital music store, launching today, anything but the best of luck (unless you're an Apple shareholder). A bad business is in nobody's interests and a competitor to an obvious leader is a good thing.

On the surface many of the omens are good. HMV has a solid track record as a music company, which Apple certainly lacked. The download market is growing healthily but the continuing dominance of the CD format suggests there's a lot of organic growth to come before competitors have to start poaching each other's market shares.

A few things concern me, though. First, the competition has stepped up lately. Sky, Spotify and others offer not only a music download service but a streaming try-before-you-buy system (from which songs can disappear at a whim, but that's another gripe).

Second, if people like Amazon have only made small dents with all the marketing spend they have available, is a more traditional style retailer really going to cut it?

All of which leads me to the question in the title of this entry. Is there room for another competitor in this space? (I haven't even mentioned Napster) - and by extension, do we actually need one?

omol -2 Junior Poster

Its nice to see a record shop attempt to change its business model to meet the current market. Now we just need the record companys to wake up a realise how outdated their model is.

GuyClapperton 12 Staff Writer

Thanks for that. The traditional business adopting the current business model is of course to be welcomed and I'm glad someone has highlighted it (if a little irritated with myself that I didn't make this point in the first place!)

ishanseo 0 Newbie Poster

This is a surprisingly common question for new iPod owners who are using Microsoft Windows on their PC, and the basic answer is that you must use Apple iTunes to get music onto your iPod. Windows Media Player can see the iPod, but only as a hard disk, the section on the iPod where the music is stored is "hidden" and only iTunes knows how to get to it.

omol -2 Junior Poster

This is a surprisingly common question for new iPod owners who are using Microsoft Windows on their PC, and the basic answer is that you must use Apple iTunes to get music onto your iPod. Windows Media Player can see the iPod, but only as a hard disk, the section on the iPod where the music is stored is "hidden" and only iTunes knows how to get to it.

What? No you don't. It is hidden but not only iTunes know how to get to it. There are loads of alternatives to iTunes for moving music and movies onto your ipod, most of them better. Anyway, what has your post got in relavence to this news article?

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