Virgin launches subscription-based music service
97799
On Monday, Virgin Group subsidiary Virgin Digital launched an online store designed to leverage the name recognition of its brick-and-mortar Virgin Megastore while competing with a subscription-based model.
194453
SIR Richard Branson has become the latest big name to move into the online music world. The British entrepreneur has launched a Virgin Digital music service in America, joining a long list of mainly technology companies in the crowded download market.
420495
PayPlay.FM is offering its 1.3 million indie songs in DRM-free MP3 format for $0.88 each.
63689
Napster on Thursday said it&#39;s testing a monthly subscription service that would let customers download an unlimited number of songs and play them on portable music devices
70240
The online digital-music business became a little more crowded as Richard Branson&#39;s Virgin Group launched a music Web site in the US The Virgin Digital service sells songs for 99 cents each
680792
The streaming site offers free tunes from major and indie labels.
424405
Sir Richard Branson has dabbled in everything from music to space tourism, and is now setting his sights on creating the ultimate online music store. Branson's Virgin Digital service capitalizes on the strength of the Virgin record label to offer customers a "virtual Virgin Megastore" stocked with over 1 million songs for download.
126775
LOS ANGELES : Richard Branson&#39;s Virgin Group said it was jumping into online music, with a &quot;Digital Megastore&quot; for US customers offering song downloads for 99 cents.
124929
(InfoWorld) - A U.K. startup hopes to compete withÂ Apple's new iPhone by offering a flat-rate music service that can run on most of today's mobile phones. Omnifone Ltd. launched on Thursday its MusicStation service that allows mobile phone users to download as many music tracks as they want for â¬2.99 (US$3.97) per week. The company previewed MusicStation in February at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. The Swedish mobile phone subsidiary of Norwegian telco Telenor ASA is the first to offer the MusicStation service. More than 30 operators in Europe, Asia and South Africa have signed up to offer the service. To use MusicStation, users must have handsets preinstalled with the application. "MusicStation runs on any Java and music-enabled device," said Omnifone spokesman Tim Hadley. "We're talking about 75 percent of the phones currently available on the market." The company plans to have more than 100 million MusicStation-enabled handsets within the next 12 months. Omnifone has developed software that allows its application to be ported to the many different types of Java used on mobile phones, according to Hadley. One of the main benefits of MusicStation is quick and easy navigating and downloading -- unlike many of the carrier music portals, based on WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) technology, which can be time-consuming and difficult to browse, according to the spokesman. "The application is very comparable to an MP3 player user experience," he said. Downloads to mobile phones over 3G (third-generation) mobile phone networks can take between 30 seconds and one minute, all of which can happen in the background. The service also runs on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks. Omnifone has signed licensing deal with several large music companies, including EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music International. "We're starting with over 1 million tracks," Hadley said. DRM (digital rights management) technology protects all of the music. The mobile MusicStation service includes several features, such as messaging and the ability to share playlists and tracks. Over the next few months, the company plans to offer a MusicStation desktop application. For an additional â¬1 per month, customers can have all of the tracks downloaded to their mobile phones automatically download to their PCs when they log on to the portal service, according to Hadley. Operators, music companies and Omnifone will split revenue generated by MusicStation. Apple announced this week that iPhone users will need an account for its iTunes Store music service before activating the device. The iPhone debuts in the U.S. on June 29. Â
613049
BT is launching a digital music service designed to &quot;revolutionise&quot; the industry and give power back to artists, labels and traditional retailers at the expense of new entrants into the market such as Apple&#39;s iTunes.
618407
Following the recent announcement that it will be terminating its online music store. Virgin announced yesterday that it will turn its mobile phone business public with an IPO.
755357
Virgin Radio and online music service Napster, combining one of the oldest music mediums with the newest, have teamed up to create the first UK radio programme counting down the week&#39;s most downloaded songs.
109777
Currently both Napster and RealNetworks offer music services with a subscription option where users who subscribe get to listen to all the music they want for a flat fee of around US$9.95 a month.
339984
Virgin Electronics hopes its slim Virgin Player, which debuts today and is smaller than a deck of cards, will rise as a lead competitor to Apple's iPod.
299576
Napster will be launching its own downloaded music chart on Virgin Radio at 7pm on August 29th. The chart will be compiled from the top 20 most popular tracks bought each week from Napster UK service. The chart will also include tracks that have been ...
435184
Virgin Electronics, the consumer electronics arm of Richard Branson's Virgin Group,  on Tuesday unveiled a new portable music player to compete directly with Apple Computer Inc.'s  popular iPod mini player.
634870
The software giant's new pay-per-download service offers an easy-to-use interface and above-average sound quality. But some critics wonder if the MSN Music service will foster a widening rift in digital music security standards. By Xeni Jardin.