T-Online Starts a Music Download Service
Posted on 30/08/03 16:40 by Seán Byrne                             
T-Online Starts a Music Download Service
Since iTunes' success, there have been other music download service's starting up trying to compete.  T-Online's music service provides a choice of about 20,000 titles to choose from and is expected to extend this range over time.  The titles are from various national and international artists through several record companies and are in negotiations with further providers.  Like the iTunes service, tracks start at € .99 per track.  Customers can pay via their Deutsche Telekom AG telephone bill or by credit card and receive permanent right to paid tracks.  The titles features flanking editorial content and interactive elements such as user ratings and discussion forums.  It appears that this service may only be available to German customers.

BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- T-Online International AG said Friday it now offers music fans an extensive range of attractive songs for downloading at www.musicload.de.
 
Already available on rollout at the IFA "World of Consumer Electronics" 2003 are about 20,000 titles by numerous national and international artists. And the range will be continuously expanded.

T-Online realizes Digital Music Download together with the renowned record companies Bertelsmann AG's (B.BRT) BMG, Edel Music AG , Kontor, Sony Corp.'s Sony Music, Warner Music Germany and EMI Group PLC and is currently in negotiations with further providers.

Prices start at EUR0.99 per track, depending on topicality. Payment is via the Deutsche Telekom AG telephone bill or credit card. Users receive a permanent right to the paid tracks.

The download offer features flanking editorial content and additionally offers interactive elements. The technical implementation and the hosting of the new online-shop is realized by the T-Online subsidiary Atrada (www.atrada.de).

"With the T-Online Digital Music Download we offer users in Germany a unique range from the repertoires of the major music providers," says Burkhard Grassmann, T-Online board member for media. "Linked with editorial content and attractive interactive elements such as user ratings and discussion forums, this creates an appealing full-service offer that further consolidates our position in the e-business sector and gives strong impetus to the digital distribution of music products."

While this service does give its customers permanent rights to their paid-for tracks, it is not clear if this means they can burn their purchased tracks to CD or download them if again they get lost of damaged.  The majority of music download services do not allow CD burning or support transfer to portable audio players.  iTunes despite being a Macintosh only service has proven very successful and in my opinion has two likely reasons:  Customers can record their tracks to CD and can transfer tracks to a portable iPod player.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

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