“Going up against Apple’s iTunes/iPod online music empire is a colossal challenge for any competitor. That’s true even for the most powerful software company on the planet, and one of the most venerable brands in music,” Edward C. Baig reports for USA Today. “…Since Urge, unlike iTunes, is a fee-based subscription service that lets you listen to boatloads of music, it more directly competes against Napster, RealNetworks’ Rhapsody and Yahoo. Buoyed by MTV, Urge measures up favorably and is the best-looking contender, though you can find similar content elsewhere.”
“As you would expect, the service is sprinkled with music videos, but they’re not always easy to find and some failed to play. I was also put off having to watch commercials on a few of the videos. At the moment, there are no podcasts, though that is on the Urge road map. Perhaps befitting its beta status, the Media Player responded slowly at times and crashed all too frequently. Each time I had to sign into my account again. Two of my USA TODAY colleagues encountered deeper problems playing songs. So Urge isn’t all there yet. But it shows potential and is worth considering if you don’t have an iPod and prefer the subscription model to buying songs individually,” Baig writes.
Full article here.
Okay, it’s a beta, but how many reviews have you read where the “cons” were “crashed often and was slow to respond at times. Not all videos played. Colleagues had trouble playing music at all?” Yikes. Windows users’ willingness to accept mediocrity and worse is unmatched. Maybe Napster and Real won’t be crushed by URGE so quickly after all.
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Related articles:
MTV, Microsoft URGE music service begins life with a severe handicap – May 17, 2006
MTV’s and Microsoft’s URGE should concern also-rans like Real, Napster and Sony – not Apple – May 15, 2006
MTV’s and Microsoft’s iPod-incompatible URGE online music outfit faces uphill battle – May 15, 2006
EMI Music Chairman: Music subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody haven’t beeen huge – January 23, 2006
Oppenheimer downgrades RealNetworks based on Microsoft’s ‘URGE’ partnership with MTV – December 15, 2005
MTV-Microsoft URGE music service not targeting iPod, iTunes users; Real CEO PlayedForSure? – December 13, 2005
MTV and Microsoft team up for new digital music service ‘URGE’ – December 13, 2005
Study shows Apple iTunes Music Store pay-per-download model preferred over subscription service – April 11, 2005
Let’s get clear on a couple of things. iTunes is dominant for a variety of reasons but primarily because it WORKS so well and doesn’t get in your way.
I have not seen Urge yet but with enough promotion it will gain a foothold and probably grow to a certain extent since not everyone can afford an ipod and it’s not the only way to play digital music. Still some other things are true:
1. The argument about low audio quality is meaningless. The way people listen to music for the most part is NOT in a critical listening environment. Having been an audio pro for years and talking with other audio professionals…while there IS a difference in compressed media forms…most people listening on an ipod or other device or in the car or anywhere that’s not a tuned environment…can’t tell the difference.
2.The subscription model which is appealing to the corporate mind set has less appeal for an individual (especially younger people) for whom long term (like forever) renting music is just ridiculous.
3. DRM is not going to go away, nor should it. People create intellectual property. They deserve to get paid for it. DRM is the only real way to protect it. People will always steal. It’s how people are. But Apple’s DRM model is both the best yet devised but is subject to change and improvement.
4. The next revision of the iPod is likely to be a touchscreen model which takes things to a whole new level. Betting against the iPod at this stage is not a good business model. The iPod will fade, almost certainly. All things do in time. But it may simply be replaced by something even more remarkable…and possibly from Apple. Can you imagine a molecular crystal memory device with a high def output that could drive a video projector and that still fits almost literally in a wallet? It’s not only possible. It’s likely.
Microsoft and all their cooks wouldn’t know GUI design if it slapped them in the face.
Crazy MTV Guy: “I know I know, let’s fill every pixel with graphics so it becomes a giant mess!”
Crazy M$ Guy: “Brilliant! Creating a smoke screen to disguise the crashes/slowness/inability to play songs or videos sounds like just what we need.”
Apprentice: “But why don’t we fix the bugs and make it work – wouldn’t that benefit our customers?”
(silence)
Apprentice: “I’ll get my coat…”
The reflective “black glass” effect is a direct rip-off of Keynote, iWeb etc.
Beta. Remember when iTunes was launched? It wasn’t BETA. It was ready to go.
Stupid. This will be a non-event real soon. Like Yahoo’s store. Like Walmarts. Like Napster. Like REAL.
MTV’s huge catalog of music videos should be able to make quite a splash in the coveted 13-year-old girl demographic.
Jooop, You don’t know the history of cutthroat competition… I do.
So it works sporadically if at all … but it’s <i>worth considering if you don’t have an iPod and prefer the subscription model to buying songs individually</i>?
Let me get this straight: it’s crap but if you don’t have any bread and you want to have a sandwich….
Oh, who am I kidding. I don’t know jack.
A few crashes? Of the whole computer? Probably not. JUST the player. So click it again and try again. Big deal.
What are people babies these days? If you look behind some MINOR crashes that waste like 2 seconds, then Microsoft makes some fantastic products.
Look beneath the superficial, Apple people. It’s not all about style and perfection. It’s about getting the job done. I’m certain Microsoft has done it again with Urge.
Microsoft is made for people like you, what are you doing on a Mac site?
To No Zealot and Give me a break –
Please kindly F off and go spout your insipid comments on a POS Microsoft forum.
The folks here have no use for idioits such as yourselves.
The only thing – ONLY thing – that gives this store a chance is the fact that it is bundled into WMP11 which means, presumably, that it will soon come standard on every PC. This will be an excellent test of just how many people rely on WMP as their standard music app.
I repeat what I said in another thread. Napster, Real, et al. might want consider getting in front of a judge and getting an injunction muy pronto. Or do they just plan to sit there and let Microsoft do a “Netscape” on their collective butt?
except when it doesn’t
even if you give it a break for being a beta, the MS legacy is that it is going to have plenty of probs. Why set up a beta to be reviewed that is so deeply flawed as to be essentially unusable? Oh, wait. MS final products are that way, too.
Apple really needs to get open up their stuff so their user experience can be shitty, too.
For Windows, I still think my favourite is Musicmatch Jukebox for its Queue function. It works sort of like the party shuffle, but better.
But it is a memory hog.
I have yet to meet ANYONE who prefers a subscription service over buying individual songs.
why is anyone surprised it doesn’t work?
it’s windows for cripes sake
Hey “give me a break” If it’s all about getting the job done as you say, then you’re allied yourself with the wrong software company. Every Microsoft product adds useless complexity to even simple functions. I’m glad I don’t have to pay you an hourly wage.
Mac=productivty. MS =20 questions.
word=once. I Never like to answer the same qustion more than once.
Not that it really matters, does anyone know the bit rate of songs on PUrge? If PUrge has songs which are 196 kb/s or higher, Apple might want to take note. I for one would not mind paying $1.29 per song for a song with a higher bit rate. However, such a model probably doesn’t really benefit Apple – since they make most of their money on iPod sales and due to the increase storage requirements / costs.
Peace.
Everything is in Beta these days it seems. Do people enjoy being duped into testing crap for multi-million dollar corps like Google, Yahoo, MS, and MTV?
The iPod will fade, almost certainly. All things do in time
—
This would probably be a good time to remind you that about 2 millions iTunes songs are sold a day and they only work on… the iPod devices. The iPod will fade when MUSIC fades and pigs fly.
I’ll believe a review of Urge (to shit maybe?) when it’s on WSJ and written by Mossberg…
It does look like Windows users are trying hard to defend mediocrity.
Anyway, we now know from the Mac ads that Mr PC does have the odd restart from time to time!!!
Apple Macs are now LIGHT YEARS ahead of PC dross..
Microsoft needs a music store because they are in the process right now of creating their own music player which internally they are calling it the next “ipod killer” … just like all other players before it. They will also have it work with the xbox 360. I say who cares. They don’t have the third party support, ease of use, support of auto manufacturers, etc. that the ipod has. Anywho, that is why they need a music store.
Oh, hell, I was going to say something. It was going to be witty, sarcastic, and all too precious. But I’m bored. Bored with life. Bored with technology. Bored. Bored. Bored. URGE. Yeah. I’ve got an urge. The urge to self-destruct. Yeah. One last binge. That’s the ticket.
I know it’s an Apple site, and I’m an Apple guy, but URGE is really just the tip of the iceberg. MTV is owned by Viacom, which also owns CBS, Blockbuster, and Paramount pictures. URGE will (probably) morph into an all-media superstore where one can buy songs, buy videos, rent movies, and, for a fee, download previously-aired television programs, such as CSI from CBS or Dave Chappelle or South Park from Comedy Central (also owned by Viacom).
And yes, I know some Comedy Central programming is currently available on iTMS. But nothing is permanent, and if URGE shows signs of profitability you can bet the licensing agreement between Apple and Viacom will NOT be renewed.
A word about Paramount:
have a look at the Paramount home video collection, and count the number of enormously popular movies they offer, such as Titanic, The Godfather, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the entire Star Trek catalog (TV shows too), Airplane, etc. ad nauseum. Makes sense to sell or rent these titles on the company’s own website, doesn’t it? You control distribution, you don’t share profits with anybody.
I’d been expecting something like URGE for some time now. If they can get the bugs worked out, it could be a fearsome competitor.
like it was said before…
I got the URGE to defecate!! – pink floyd – the wall.
duper,
1. create a playlist called “Queue”.
2. add a song to it.
3. begin playing.
4. add more songs.
They will play in the order you add them, therefore it’s a queue. iTunes has the feature you desire.