Comments on: Microsoft, labels try to revive subscriptions

Those who pay for a $14.95 a month Zune Pass will now get to keep 10 songs a month regardless of whether they remain subscribers.

[toosday]

I really like the idea of subscriptions and I can only hope iTunes (my weapon of choice, since, as a Mac-user, I have no other DRM-ed option) adopts a subscription model. Zune has an amazing subscription service and it outshines every other one I've heard of.

Paying $15 to listen to unlimited music and being able to keep 10 of them is pretty darn good. Especially considering I just started the daunting task of deleting songs from my iTunes library that I haven't listened to in a couple of years or more - and that is seeming to amount to about 1/4 of the songs I have!

However, the fact that you can share a Zune Pass between 3 people/devices/computers kind of makes this tough: Who of the 3 people gets to keep what songs? Seems they should offer a discounted purchase price for Zune Pass subscribers as an incentive.

[Maccess]

There's already a subscription model. It's called RADIO, both conventional and Internet Radio--which now pays a fee to music publishers. And guess what, it uses Google's revenue model -ad-supported-and has been since around seventy years ago.

[kelmon]

I have nothing against companies offering a subscription service since some people seem to like the idea. Personally, however, I have no interest in a service that requires me to pay a fee per month. Rather, I want to choose when I spend, particularly since I expect such services to work out to be more expensive in the long-run if you do not download much.

[Universal_Indie_Records]

kelmon,
You're definitely not alone which is why the subscription thing has not taken off beyond a niche market. Some swear by it... and I do see the benefits for those who consume genres like "pop" and current "hip hop" where the music is more "fast food" than anything you'd ever want to listen to again 5 years down the line.

[rapier1]

I disagree. I like finding new music and have been able to use the service to find bands like Beirut, DeVotchKa, A Hawk and A Handsaw and so forth. These are bands I would never have listened to normally and if I had to spend $30 to $50 to get a range of their albums I wouldn't have bothered. With the subscription service I was able to explore these bands and bands like them and find the music that really appeals to me. At that point I bite the bullet and actually buy the albums I like most. Its a pretty risk free way of finding new and interesting music.

[michaelkpate]

The Zune marketshare is way under what Microsoft has always wanted. And now we find that a smaller percentage of Zune buyers (the only people who can use the subscription) are opting for the subscription plan. I suspect this story is actually more about the number of Zunes sold than the number of subscribers.

My suggestion would to be cut $14.95 down to a price so that rather than something everyone has to consider it becomes an impulse buy. Because right now, most who think carefully probably opt out of both the subscription plan and the Zune.

[rapier1]

Dunno, after a lot of careful thinking I actually decided to go with the Zune. I've found that I get very excited about a band or genre and spend a not inconsiderable amount of money to buy the albums. Often inside of a few months I lose my excitement and stop listening to them entirely. The Zune model allows me to get a lot of bands and really determine if I want to make a long term investment in them. If I'm still listening to the band after a couple months I'll either buy the MP3 version or a physical CD outright. All things considered I think its actually saving me quite a bit of money.

[Mark_Anderson]

Unfortunately the way to do a subscription service properly has just been released by Nokia. One payment, unlimited downloads for a year and you get to keep what you downloaded for ever.

Of course, it's DRM infested up to the hilt but there are plenty of ways around that issue. :)

[Universal_Indie_Records]

Yes I've read about Nokia's service and they seem to be on the right track. If asked who I thought would get it right, Nokia would have been the farthest from my mind.

[Penguinisto]

Subs... bleah. Bad enough they want that kind of money drain; now they want it on a product that has no marketshare, no general appeal, and in a market that is saturated with iPods.

Maybe MSFT can find a way to get their subscription service to work on iPods?

/P

[rapier1]

So basically spending $15 a month for unlimited downloads where you get to keep $10 worth of the music each month (in unrestricted mp3 format) is a money drain? Maybe that's true if you don't like finding new music and maybe that true if you get all of your music from torrents. People who like music and people who want to see the artists and labels compensated for their work (so they can continue to do that work) might see that differently. But really, its all a matter of choice and choice is a good thing.

[Penguinisto]

You're misunderstanding...

When I say money drain, I don't mean for the consumer. Right now, Rhapsody (Real Networks) is operating at a loss. MSFT's music sub service lives only by the benefaction of MSFT itself, and makes no profit that anyone is aware of. Yahoo's music sub service died completely. Napster only survives by the grace of Bertlesmann, and itself is still operating at a loss -- this is not counting the lawsuit settlements, either.

Hence, "money drain".

/P

[rapier1]

I did misunderstand and I apologize for that. However, pretty much all products start out as a money drain. The iPod and iTunes weren't making money for Apple at first either. Building market position, especially against an entrenched competitor with huge market share is difficult. However, that's no reason not to do it if you have the available resources and feel that a profitable portion of the leader's share can be peeled off. MS, if nothing else, still has considerable resources available and a very long view of the market.

[aaronacj]

Please post the fact... use sources if you are claimng that MSFT is operating at a loss. Do post facts that you make up in your own little world. It's the internt if you are claimng somthing its not hard to find a legit link proveing your post. If you can't do that then your posts are nothing my troll trash.

[bennett_barnett]

Like most things in life, there are "different strokes for different folks", if you will.

A similar analogy can be made to the consumption of DVD/Movies sales. Some people like to purchase of all of their movies outright while others prefer a subscription-based service like Netflix. This is essentially the distinction between the services offered by Zune & Real Rhapsody) versus iTunes.

In my opinion, this is great news. I have been a subscriber to Rhapsody since 2004 because it fits my listening taste. My hope is that they will offer a better deal than 10 "keepers" per month to avoid losing market share.

Any more Rhapsody lovers care to respond?

[gp2792]

Former Rhapsody lover...I used the service for about 18 months and really like the model. As others have pointed out, the ability to find new music and sample it for the included monthly fee is nice. So why I am I a "former" rhapsody fan? One word: Pandora. Check it out. The service rocks. The catalog is enormous. Built on the "music genome project" which attempts to match music you like with other music with similar qualities. I have found it to be very accurate. it has introduced me to new bands I have never heard of, but share similarities with music I know and love. The interface is fantastic and works on any browser.

One other important note: It's FREE.

You can always buy music you like if you want to own it...but this service lets you listen to anything you want for nothing...frankly, it probably has a limited lifespan as I am not quite sure how they are pulling this off.

[rapier1]

The problem with pandora is that it doesn't work in my car... or anywhere else I don't want to carry a computer or have an internet connection. While pandora is great service there are limits to it - the one that gets me the most is that you can only skip like 5 songs on one station each hour. It sort of slows down the whole exploration process.

[gp2792]

Definitely true on both counts. But the first limitation (car) is true for any subscription service unless you have the right drm capable mp3 player and plug into your car, etc.

As for the second, i get around that one by creating more than one "station". The 5 skip limit is per station. Also, you can thumbs-down songs or ban a song for a month that you are sick of hearing. That helps a bit. Still an issue, but with the above mitigations, I don't find it too annoying.

I primarily use pandora while working, it's pretty nice to have an always changing source of music that I like. Until we get to a music anywhere, drm-free world, I think this service helps fit the bill.

[rapier1]

The 'not behind my desk' problem is a significant one for me. Its why I actually have an mp3 player. The multiple stations work around is a viable but unwieldy solution to me. When I listen to music I don't want to have to interact with the music player any more than is absolutely necessary. I understand why Pandora has to do this but that doesn't make it any more palatable to me. Still, I've found some really good music on Pandora in the past and its a great application within those confines.

[knowles2]

This is a pretty good deal.

[We7Stevep]

This is a great move showing that microsoft is now listening to what the consumer actually wants at a reasonable price. There are plenty of consumers who can attach that kind of monetary value to music per monthb and there are also those who will never want to pay for music, they believe they should have access for to music for free - for these people ad-funded services like We7 are more important.

Steve Purdham
CEO - We7
http://www.we7.com

[Draigous]

The Zune pass is sounding better all the time. I also heard that 99% of the Zune Marketplace will be drm free in a month according to the zune Team. I think this is a good deal for Zune owners. Microsoft should really think about teaming up with amazon's music download service. If its true about the 99% drm free thing, i just might get into the Zune pass myself.