Source: Microsoft In Talks To Buy Shoutcast And Winamp From AOL |
- From: Luis Guerra <screenreader@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 16:02:08 -0500
TechCrunch
http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/21/source-microsoft-in-talks-to-buy-shoutcast-and-winamp-from-aol/
Looks like the
llama may not get off so easily after all.
AOL yesterday
announced
that it was shutting down Winamp, media playing software for Windows
and Android devices that it picked up through its 1999, $80 million
acquisition of
Nullsoft in 1999. But today Techcrunch has learned that AOL is talks
with Microsoft to sell Winamp, along with Shoutcast, a media streaming
service also
developed by Nullsoft. We have also learned that AOL has been planning
to announce the closure of Shoutcast next week.
AOL has declined to comment for this story, and we are still waiting to
hear back from Microsoft with a response. From what we understand, the
deal is
not
yet finalized, with AOL and Microsoft still working out the price. It
could also be very wishful thinking from those intent on trying to save
both services.
AOL did not give any guidance yesterday on what would happen with Shoutcast.
If this is correct, it would represent an interesting, and strange,
twist in the story.
On the AOL side, it’s fairly clear why AOL is closing down Winamp and
Shoutcast, and it makes sense why it would want to sell both.
As an owner, AOL
has never given much of a strong direction
to the products, at a time when other digital music companies have
been building up audiences and evolving technologies (although, as we
pointed out earlier
this week when writing about
Rdio layoffs,
the digital music business is tough). It has already
shuttered and sold off
other music assets as part of a bigger strategic shift to focus
resources as a web publisher (it owns TechCrunch, Engadget, Huffington
Post and a number
of other bloggy properties), and as a rich-media advertising network
operator across those and third-party sites, with an increasing focus on
ad-tech to
improve how those ads are delivered and measured.
Yes, music properties could very much fit into that mix, but not without
a lot of financial and strategic investment in them.
On the Microsoft side, the Windows giant has had its own setbacks in music (
RIP Zune).
But it has more recently thrown a lot of eggs into the
Xbox Music
basket, which works on the Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows
Phone 8,iOS and Android devices, offering free, ad-supported streaming,
subscriptions,
and downloaded music.
Where would Winamp or Shoutcast fit into that mix? While I’m still
trying to figure out what Microsoft would do with Winamp, Shoutcast has
a platform that
acts as a portal to over 50,000 radio stations. This could be one area
that Microsoft might want to add to the Xbox Music platform, and which
it currently
lacks, to complement its Pandora-style personal radio feature.
Thanks,
Bob w
"Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave, and it sure
behooves us to be kind to one another along the way." Alice Childriss
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