And it’s by Microsoft!
Even with the apparent demise of MSN Music, or maybe not, Microsoft has chosen to launch yet another music store, but aimed at the mobile market. Of course, with DRM. And a higher price tag.
It’s like a store for sadomasochists, where people get pleasure from buying tracks at a more expensive price which is locked to one phone.
When anyone can go to iTunes or Amazon for DRM-free tracks (Oh and by anyone, I mean those in the U.S. Too bad us Singaporeans still have to be contented with pirating our music to get DRM-free tracks.), and at a lower price point to boot, one has to wonder which genius at Microsoft decided “Hey, why don’t we offer to sell music to users’ mobiles, with DRM to lock it to that phone, and charge people higher than other retailers. What a winning idea!”. And then proceed to high-five others around the meeting room and bask in each other’s awesomeness.
PCPro has an interview with Hugh Griffiths, Head of Mobile at Microsoft UK. Some of the more hilarious parts:
At the moment, to be honest with you, we don’t have the functionality in-house to provide a mechanism for transferring between mobile phones and PC. We don’t have that functionality available.
…
If I buy these songs on your service – and they’re locked to my phone – what happens when I upgrade my phone in six months’ time?
Well, I think you know the answer to that.
Well played. I guess there are enough idiots in the world for corporations to exploit.
I’m one of them too.
[Q&A: Microsoft defends return to DRM] via [Microsoft introduces MSN Mobile Music]
