Sony BMG plans subscription service that’s iPod compatible
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Talk of late has pointed to rumors that Apple might be planning a subscription-type service or charging more for iPods and simply giving iPod owners the ability to download audio content from iTunes for free. Now it appears that Sony BMG may be planning its own subscription service that is compatible with Apple’s iPod.
The problem is that the plans from Sony are not exactly clear (when are they?). Most of the reports coming in are based on an interview from a German newspaper. I can’t read German and neither can Silicon Alley Insider but here’s an excerpt from the interview with Sony BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz that’s been translated,
“The newspaper quoted him as saying that the “simplest option would be a flat rate” fee per month of around 6 to 8 euros ($9 to $12) for unlimited access to Sony BMG’s entire music catalog and that the downloads would be compatible with all players, including Apple’s ubiquitous iPod.”
It would be great if Sony could work with Apple and come up with a subscription service at a reasonable price and that appears to be the case.
However, it still doesn’t make much sense. Any subscription service would require all the big labels to be involved which Apple pretty much more or less has. It’s possible he was referring to working in conjunction with Apple because I doubt Sony could make a decent showing on its lonesome.
There just aren’t enough details to say for sure what is going on here.
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March 25th, 2008
I think we will see a lot more competiton in this arena as more and more of the companies involved in the music industry will realize they have to be present.