“Music retailer Tower Records is preparing to take the shrink-wrap off its digital download store on Tuesday, when Tower.com/Digital goes live with a comprehensive service powered by Puretracks,” Chris Marlowe reports for Reuters. “Initially the store will offer a catalog of 1.2 million tracks priced at 99 cents each or $9.99 for an entire album.”
“Tower Records chief marketing officer Russ Eisenman said the digital store fit perfectly with Tower’s history of offering music in all formats that prevailed throughout its 45-year history,” Marlowe reports.
“All of the music is in Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio format, encoded at a higher bit rate than most other online stores to provide better audio fidelity,” Marlowe reports. “This format can be burned to disc and played on many existing CD players, he noted. It also can be moved to most digital music players, with the exception of Apple’s iPod. No special software is needed to make a purchase, and the songs can be downloaded to any location on the computer.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bruce” for the heads up.]
Kudos for the marginally higher quality bit rate (192 kbps). We’d like to see higher bit rates from Apple, too, if the music labels would allow it.
That said, how many of these outfits must flounder and die before these gluttons for punishment stop launching limited Windows-only WMA-based junk with far less than even half of iTunes Music Store’s extensive library that also happen to exclude both the dominant portable media player, Apple’s iPod, and those with the most disposable income, Mac users?
Microsoft’s “PlaysForSure” is more effective than a noose around the neck for these outfits. Figure something else out, guys. How many also-ran outfits do we need to have around to suck up the few crumbs left over from Apple’s pie? Why even bother at this point? To say “too little, too late” to Tower would be too charitable.
By the way, back in the third quarter of 2005, NPD reported that Apple Computer’s iTunes music store had passed Tower Records in music sales as it surged from 14th to 7th largest U.S. music retailer within a one year period.
[UPDATE: 3:18pm EDT: Found and added 192kbps figure as per comment from “whatever” below.]
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Online Music is the pits. It is just as expensive as regular music, but there is nothing physical about it. I like having a CD so that even if my computer crashes, my music is not erased. Also, with a quality set of speakers/headphones, the imperfections in the 128 kbps format become quite irksome, even to the untrained ear (like mine).
There’s one born every minute
Given that Apple has already worked out marketing deals with colleges for bulk downloads, I’m surprised that the big Records stores (Tower, HMV, etc.) haven’t worked out a similar deal with Apple.
i’m sure this has been mentioned, so sorry to beat the rug again but, as a business, trying to make money, why would you aim your target audience away from 75% of the market share? Who is the brain-e-ack that came up with this.
I can just hear it now “lets aim for the % of the market without iPods, that is where the gold is”
Am I missing something here?
Great. Another day, another online store. Opening an online music store has about the same prestige as saying you’re a “web page designer” did in 2003. Everyone was saying it, no one was really making money at it except the select few professionals, but everybody was jumping on the bandwagon anyway.
Now there’s even Multi-level-marketing online music store opportunities. You don’t even need to make money selling downloads, just make money off selling other suckers on the desire to make money in this “exciting new marketplace”.
YAWN.
Kindof funny since they have iPod hookups on all their listening stations throughout the store (never figured out why though)
Here is an idea, lets open a burger joint in India!!!!
Who’s in?
With a little digging it is on their site:
“At Tower Records Digital, customers can listen to 30 second song samples, browse product pages that include biographies, similar artists, artist influences, artist followers, and find new music through our special tabs for top 100, e-singles, indie, and new releases. There is no complicated software to install and no subscription necessary. Our songs are encrypted in WMA with a high bitrate (192 kbps). We sound better than most of our competitors who sell songs encrypted in 128 kbps”
So a whopping 192 kbps
these companies are like birds trying to fly through windows.
It looks like there is somewhere to go, but there isn’t and damn that sucks when you smash your beak on the glass!
Pennypacker,
If companies always aimed their target audience at the largest chunk of the market, there would be no software for macintosh. If a company can dominate 25% of the market, they are doing quite well. Perhaps they see no way of beating iTunes, so they want to focus on competing with the others.
Holy Cow, great idea!
“m sure this has been mentioned, so sorry to beat the rug again but, as a business, trying to make money, why would you aim your target audience away from 75% of the market share? Who is the brain-e-ack that came up with this.”
What choice do they have? Apple won’t license the Fairplay DRM to allow for iPod compatability.
By the way, back in the third quarter of 2005, NPD reported that Apple Computer’s iTunes music store had passed Tower Records in music sales as it surged from 14th to 7th largest U.S. music retailer within a one year period.
Tower has name recognition among CD buyers. Obviously they are trying to salvage their business by expanding into an arena that is eating their lunch. How much would it cost to add a little piece to their current advertising, telling their customers they can buy from Tower Online?
Problem is that most online music buyers are also iPod owners. This won’t endear them to the bulk of online buyers.
Point well taken,
but at what point do you say, we can’t beat them we should join them. The pure stuff is at the head of the river not down at the bottom.
People are taking the wrong approach. Don’t try and beat apple, join apple. You can’t beat this Goliath cause you’ll just be a little retarded david, peeing you pants.
“Why even bother at this point? To say “too little, too late” to Tower would be too charitable.”
I don’t support any of these iPod/iTunes “killers”, but with that kind of logic…we wouldn’t be using OS X, or staring at our Macs right now.
It’s simple really. As a company that sells music (traditionally through their record stores) it’s an imperative to get an online presence lest they miss out on online customers.
However, and this is the fly in the ointment, Apple has left them no choice. They don’t have the option of selling music with FairPlay, so the only two alternatives are to sell unrestricted MP3 (yeah, right) or WMA format files with DRM.
Everyone who makes fun of the fact that all these other music providers offer WMA-only downloads seems to be missing the point: They have no choice.
Back to the buggy whip argument, though… the market will decide the outcome. More power to Apple for their efforts, but boy it must suck to be any other online music seller.
“We sound better than most of our competitors who sell songs encrypted in 128 kbps” – Shouldn’t that be encoded??? Tower records apparantly havn’t figured out this thing called technology.
With MyCokeMusic gone down the tubes, OD2 has gotta fleece SOMEBODY in order to make money as a “You gots da name, we gots da music store” company.
Hey Face?
If your computer crashes, do you lose all your financial records? All your emails?
I don’t, so I’ll let you in on this idea that’s so new, it’s revolutionary!
It’s called “Backing up your data”, and it’s been around for over 40 years.
Sheesh!
(MW “better”, as in “I feel better now”)
Why do you bash all these Windows-only online music stores? Do they have a choice? It’s the RIAA’s own stupidity which prevents real competition. Drop the DRM and all of a sudden, Apple has real competition in the online business and in the music players themselves. But the record labels would go out of business before they admitted they were wrong.
I agree with those who point out that Apple doesn’t license its iPod compatible DRM so rivals have no choice because MS is the only one licensing its DRM. MS will benefit from this in the long run.
Apple may be the clear leader right now but trying to keep it all to itself may ultimately prove to be a big mistake. Just imagine how good it would be if we could choose from a range of stores using Apple’s format. It would really stick it to MS in the long-term and not just short-term.
We must assume that MS will eventually get things right and rivals to the iPod will get better which will mean customers willl have more choice. Apple will seem very closed in comparison so I think it’s better to act sooner rather than later. License Fairplay and really kick MS while it’s down.
I would go one step further and open the iPod at the same time to the other WMA stores. It’s up to apple to ensure iTMS remains the best store and iPod remains the best player. By opening both up, Apple would be the most open provider of such products.
Online Music stores should be like real stores with the music we buy not being restricted to one brand of player and the mp3 players should be like the walkmans of the past or like CD players. Imagine having a CD player and you could only buy CDs from one store. We have this situation with iPods.
DUH!!!
Apple won’t license Fairplay because Steve would be cutting into his buddy Bill Gates territory.
For years Apple has played, DO NOT DISTURB with Microsoft. That’s why the only spreadsheet we see from Apple is some 10 year throwback called AppleWorks. No MacTel version neither.
Those two coloborate on more things than anyone in the buisness.
Some music distributors refuse to recognize a cultural trend. I can’t wait to read the story about Tower Records reporting major losses due to an ineffectual re-release of a digital music store.
Andrew Hamilton
Video Production Las Vegas
http://www.hiproductions.com
Why not both? I buy music from iTMS because I like the convenience, but I still also buy CDs for stuff that’s not available on iTMS; I’m looking for a CD of “Camelot” with the original broadway cast (Julie Andrews was the best Guinevere, IMNSHO).
(Apple better get that 100GB iPod out soon…I’m running out of space…)
I wouldn’t call 192 kbps ‘marginally’ better.
It makes a real difference on anything but cheap headphones.
I will not buy songs through the iTunes Music Store as long as they are a lousy 128 kbps.