Codec confusion
This model mirrors the one taken by music streaming site Spotify, which has chosen 7digital as its e-commerce partner. Ben Drury, the CEO of 7digital - who recently appeared exclusively on HEXUS.tv - was quick to respond to this new threat. "The question now is can the site, which has lost a lot of ground and users over the last year, attract enough users to make this service a profitable business." Ouch!
He was also quick to point out a glaring inaccuracy in the MySpace press release. The release emailed to journalists included this statement: "MySpace Music users will also now be able to buy DRM-free MP3 music downloads of their favorite songs via Apple iTunes, playable on all digital music devices."
Here's what Drury had to say on the matter: "Despite the claims in the press release, music purchased through iTunes is in the AAC format and not MP3. This means purchased downloads are not compatible with all music devices and are of a lower quality than the 320k MP3s we sell at 7digital.com. It is unfortunate that they are not allowing their customers to choose MP3."
To be fair to MySpace, the press release now on the web has removed the MP3 reference, but it highlights another challenge faced in partnering with a music seller - albeit an incredibly successful one - that uses an essentially proprietary format for its music.
