“It makes sense that RealNetworks and MTV are partnering with one another–they have a lot in common,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News.
“Both companies linked up with Microsoft and had high hopes for the marriage. But both found their partner to be less than faithful. Jilted by Redmond, they hope to find in each other a more stable companion,” Fried reports. “Of course, the RealNetworks-MTV alliance, called Rhapsody America, is not about the one they have loved and lost, but the one who has rebuffed them altogether–Apple.”
“For years, companies big and small, alone and with various partners, have sought to rival the iPod-iTunes combination. Yet, they have had little success. Having sold 3 billion songs, Apple is not only the largest digital music store, but one of the biggest music stores in the U.S., surpassing Amazon.com and Target,” Fried reports. “Indeed, it was Microsoft’s desire to dethrone iTunes that led it to RealNetworks in the first place, and later to MTV.”
“As of July, Apple was citing NPD statistics stating that only Wal-Mart Stores and Best Buy still sell more albums than iTunes. When it comes to online music stores, NPD found that iTunes captured 70 percent of the market share for single-track downloads to PCs in 2006; eMusic, which sells only songs without digital rights management software from independent labels, came in second with 10 percent, and Napster came in third with 4 percent. Rhapsody and MSN Music tied for fourth place with only 3 percent of the online music market share,” Fried reports.
Fried covers the history of some of Microsoft’s jilted partners and their wholly unsuccessful attempts to crack Apple’s dominance here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Adam W.” for the heads up.]
Two wrongs still don’t make a right.
itunes
as in i tune out pc crap
hahahahahahahahah
MTV and RealNetworks . . . two irrelevancies trying to breed a third. Pathetic.
Good luck to them. I give the marriage 6 months
“Microsoft’s jilted partners”?
MDN, I think you have Microsoft confused with a little company in Cupertino. Microsoft does not ‘jilt’ their partners. Nobody in the industry is as pleasant, fair and easy to work with than Microsoft. Their reputation speaks for itself.
Apple on the other hand tilts the playing field in their favor with proprietary formats, sordid back room dealings and manipulation of internet blogs with a system of astroturfers. It’s all they have because their products suck. Plain and simple.
MDN, haven’t you had enough Kool-Aid?
Your potential. Our passion.™
Zune Tang, it was grape Flavor Aid served at Jonestown, not Kool-Aid.
Your stupidity. Your Own Damn Fault.™
Zune Tang give it up already. I’m sure you have better things to do then troll Mac related forums. Oh and by the way it’s Mac not MAC.. get a life dude
More boring zune tang. Please come up with a new character, please.
for a streaming service, I actually enjoy Rhapsody. It works in most Mac browsers just fine. I would never buy a track from them via the PC application. MTV, for its part, is plain worthless.
just got this link for MTV’s history of digital-music failure timeline:
Valleywag
Zune Tang,
I guess you forgot how Microsoft’s own “Plays for Sure” doesn’t work with your Zune? That was music to Rhapsody’s and Urge’s ears <intense sarcasm>.
As an aside, I guess this means MTV is officially out of the music biz, since all it shows on TV is bad teen angst reality shows?
C’mon guys, Zune Tang is a legend in these forums. He’s funny and responds like you would expect a real Windows zealot to. Don’t tune him out!
I think it’s pretty obvious that Zune Tang doesn’t actually exist, it’s MDN in disguise trying to up the comment postings.
Sorry to point out the obvious, but MDN, please stop it, or at least make Zune Tang actually have a “really pointless opinion”, instead of a “clueless, totally ignoring the facts, really pointless opinion”.
Quote Zune Tang:
“Microsoft does not ‘jilt’ their partners. “
That was the most funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Perhaps you forgot the Microsoft Anti-Trust trials? Or maybe how badly they screwed their PlaysForSure partners?…which btw, was and still is the worst screwing of corporate partnership deal in history. No other companies have done worse than what Microsoft did to its partners there.
Your Innovation. Our Imitation.™
I, for one, adore Zune Tang.
Nobody in the industry is as pleasant, fair and easy to work with than Microsoft. Their reputation speaks for itself.
LOL!!!
Somewhere in Redmond, there must be a secret room where MS proudly keeps the bones of all of its former “partners” as souvenirs. =)
Like ZT said, their reputation speaks for itself.
You go ZuneTang!
MTV is so yesterday. These guys are lately putting out more and more stuff that just sucks and is in poor taste!
Why is everyone beating on Zune Tang? It’s obvious he/she is a sado-masochist that finds meaning in life by getting beat on by others or being an attention whore. I say we ignore or facetiously agree with his/her statements.
zune tang is a mac user you morons. What he is doing is exchanging Apple and microsoft’s history just to piss off people who are not smart enough to see the humor, So he keeps coming up with new stuff, funny actually.
Thinking about it, this whole idea of the “halo effect” might not be such a great thing. The facts are, either PC converts are swallowing the kool-aid much to quickly. Or certain long time MAC users are just becoming dumber.
I will let you all figure that out though. Just so you know which category you fall in, here an equation to start with.
If you bought AAPL at $149, you are a moron. Now if you bought this morning at $122, you are not a moron.
‘s
> Microsoft does not ‘jilt’ their partners.
That’s a good one.
Zune Tang deadpans outrageous howlers, like “Nobody in the industry is as pleasant, fair and easy to work with than Microsoft.” It’s satire, you idiots. Always has been. And you dweebs leap like a trout for it. He must piss himself laughing.
Exactly Fartbuckle
A few things we’ve learned about the success of Apple and the iTunes/iPod combo:
1 The market prefers ‘buy to own’ over subscription
2 The consumer wants and needs easy to use, compatible, and stylish music (ie the iPod/iTunes experience is second to none)
3 DRM doesn’t matter. The take by Jobs a few months back on DRM (or the lack thereof) was more philosophical than anything else (well, maybe a bit technical as well- they will probably grow tired of patching the hacks to DRM by the likes of DVD Jon, etc, so an anti-DRM stance makes sense). So the whole Wal-mart and Universal fiasco with the no DRM is purely a marketing ploy- it won’t work for anything. Most consumers are never exposed to DRM directly, nor do they care. They have clearly chosen the best player and music experience based on the clean and efficient interoperability between the two. It just works. MS and crew (especially Creative) haven’t ‘gotten’ this yet, nor does it seen like they will. So in the end, the anti-DRM movement will be good for all of us, and will not hurt Apple at all. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before the entire iTunes library will be DRM-free, IMO.
Where MS and Real will lose out is in the format wars- AAC will prevail. It’s the market standard, and Apple has set the stage for the market to make progress (this time, as opposed to the MS ‘standard’) in the music field. The less proprietary formats and tech that we’re forced to use, faster technology will advance in the upcoming years. With MS as a minor player this time, expect great things through innovation and great leadership to lead the market.
Maybe Mtv would have a chance it they actually got back around to being a music based entertainment enity.
What comes around goes around…..let’s say Mtv goes back to 24/7/365 cycle of music videos, etc. Maybe then they could open an online store and be seen a a music industry powerhouse……but not ’til then. They need to quit while the quitin’ is good.
In 1999 two Silicon Valley departmental chiefs defecated on the desk of their CEO. It was a double def. They were out of their minds ..at least that was the official memo ..but there was another story told in the local coffee shops. There was an arrangement. I said there was an arrangement. I’m sorry, did I say there was an arrangement. The three were very close but the two were rejected at some point by the more dominant third. Later the two banded together to vent themselves against an even more dominant fourth …the nature of their alliance opened a portal …a small portal. Maybe, it was too small …one of them couldn’t fit through ..it broke the alliance ..so they decided to defecate on the desk of the dominant fourth. In the world there is so much more to invent, innovate, explore and imagine …stop defecating on someone elses platform ..unless you just get off on it.