Yahoo is its selling music service to Rhapsody America, exiting a business model that a myriad of companies have struggled with. As I wrote last year, the need for digital rights management software to ensure that a subscriber doesn't just download the world the first month and cancel the second is probably the biggest stumbling block to subscriptions, but it's not the only one. And with increasing interest in moving music to mobile devices like Blackberrys and iPhones, the whole business model is just being crushed under technical compromises. I think you're going to see two business models going forward: outright music purchases (i.e., iTunes and Amazon) and streaming music. But at this point, despite Rhapsody picking up Yahoo's customers, I think it's time to declare all-you-can-eat digital music subscriptions officially dead.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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I'M trying to track Zune sales. In the fall, Msft said they had "shipped" 1.2 million. I believe total sales can be under 3 million. What do you think?
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