[access-uk] Emailing: 3990695.html

BBC NEWS | Business | Tesco begins music-download siteHi.  Hope this is of a 
little interest, not least because of the price comparison in the article of 
paid-for download services.  Could this start a whole new Tesco Site 
accessability thread, me wonders?
Ray.
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxx
 
Tesco begins music-download site 
Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, is launching an online music service 
on Monday which it hopes will rival Apple's market-leading iTunes. 
Demand has grown for music available over the internet and Tesco estimates the 
UK market is now worth £25m. 

Tesco said its digital music store will use Microsoft's Windows Media Player 
and will charge 79 pence per song. 

It plans to offer more than 500,000 tracks and says its system will give users 
improved sound quality. 

"Music buying is changing," said Laura Wade Gery, chief executive of Tesco.com. 

"We know that for the first time dads are spending more on music each week than 
their teenage sons." 

Free vs fee 

Downloading services had something of a controversial birth. 

Early on computer users would "rip", or load, music onto their computers and 
then offer other people access to the files. 

This free file-sharing was blamed for a drop in record sales and the industry 
identified it as a major threat to its future. 

Since then there has been a surge in the number of legal websites offering 
music for a fee and with the blessing of record companies. 



     Music download services 
      Tesco 
      500,000 tracks at 79p each 
      iTunes 
      700,000 tracks at 79p each 
      Napster 
      1m tracks at 99p each 
      Virgin 
      350,000 tracks at 80p each 
      Mycokemusic.com 
      350,000 tracks at 80p each 
      Wanadoo 
      350,000 tracks at 69p each 
      Wippit 
      350,000 tracks, £50 annual subscription  

On Friday, Microsoft launched its MSN music download service in eight more 
European countries. 

Napster, one of the original peer-to-peer file-sharing companies, launched a UK 
service earlier this year. 

Other firms offering downloads include Wippit, Mycokemusic.com, Virgin 
Megastores and Wanadoo. 

Tesco said it expected demand to pick up as the price of digital music players, 
or MP3 players, dropped. 

"As the price of portable digital players falls, customers will demand more 
choice," said Ms Gery. 

"That is what we are delivering." 

The shopping chain said it chose to use Microsoft's Media Player as it is 
compatible with, and can be loaded onto, a large proportion of portable players 
on the market, apart from Apple's iPod. 

The success of the iPod portable music player, launched in October 2001, 
re-energised the whole music download market. 

It is credited with helping turn around Apple's fortunes and making its iTunes 
service the world's most popular music download site. 

Tesco, however, reckons there is market share to be taken and will be hoping to 
replicate the success of Wal-Mart in the US. 


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/3990695.stm

Published: 2004/11/08 01:30:56 GMT

© BBC MMIV

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