BT Launching Next Generation Music Service

from the different-kind-of-service dept

Now that there are fifty or so iTunes clones that no one is using, it appears someone is finally realizing that if they want to take on Apple in selling music downloads, they need to come up with something more advanced. BT is apparently backing a plan that tries to be a next generation style music download store that tries to offer more flexibility than existing offerings do. That is, they allow musicians (or the labels who own their music) to set the parameters under which the music can be sold. For example, they can let people hear the song a few times before having to buy it -- or they can bundle other content (videos, ringtones, etc.) with the songs. This is definitely a step forward. Furthermore, it lets people do some very basic sharing, where they can pass on songs to others -- with similar parameters attached. There have been a few similar offerings, but this one seems fairly comprehensive. Of course, while the focus is on how to beat iTunes, the real question is whether it's compelling enough to take people away from the free file sharing systems -- and that's going to be difficult.