NEW YORK (TechNews online journal) - Microsoft's timing may be good.
Music companies finally seem to have realized the potential of the online music market. At the same time, lawsuits are having a chilling effect on free download use, sending more users to paid
Microsoft Corp. plans to offer music downloading in the U.S. beginning next year to compete with Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes and other similar services.
The downloading will be offered through Microsoft's MSN Web sites, said Michelle Simpson, a spokeswoman for Microsoft with Waggener Edstrom Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based public relations firm. Simpson declined to provide details. MSN was the most visited Web site network in the U.S. in the month of September, according to ComScore Media Metrix.
Companies such as Apple, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., RealNetworks Inc., Roxio Inc. and MusicMatch Inc. sell or plan to sell music for download over the Internet. The market for legally downloaded music will be $35 million this year, a fraction of annual music sales, said David Card, an analyst at Jupiter Research. He estimated that online music sales should rise to more than $100 million next year and approach $700 million by 2008.
Microsoft is looking for a "senior level marketing candidate" for the new Microsoft Music Download Service, according to the company's job Web site. "The first duty of this candidate will be to finalize the business plan for the Microsoft Music Download Service," the job description said.
Microsoft already sells music downloading in Europe and previously said it was considering such a service in the U.S.
The European Commission last week finished up hearings on possible antitrust violations related to Microsoft's Windows corporate network and music software. The commission wants Microsoft to sell a version of Windows without its Media Player audio and video software or equally promote competing products.
The company includes a copy of its Windows Media Player software for playing Internet audio and video files with every Windows operating system, which runs more than 90 percent of all personal computers. The program can be used to copy compact discs on to computers and to organize a user's digital music collection.
