Consumers Not Receptive to Music Subscriptions
Market Wire (press release)
DALLAS, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/2005 -- Portable music services will not have a big impact this year, according to Parks Associates' new report "Digital Music: Analysis and Forecasts." Respondents in the recent Parks Associates survey Global Digital Living strongly favored the single-track purchase model over a subscription when presented with both options. Roughly 40% said they were likely to buy songs one at a time, but only 8% were likely to use a subscription service.

"The market has a long way to go in promoting subscription models," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "There is hope Microsoft's Janus technology will boost the digital music market by enabling portability and greater integration of hardware and content. However, our data show the industry needs to translate these solutions into something more tangible and desirable to consumers. At present, consumers either do not fully grasp the value of a subscription 'all-you-can-eat' service, or they simply don't want it."

Can iPod Rescue Apple's Computer Business?
CIO Today, CA
Sales of iPod digital music players and iMac computers propelled Apple to a record $3.5 billion in fourth-quarter sales. Add the new iPod Shuffle and the Mac mini, and Apple looks to be poised for more growth this year.

The iPod appears to be giving Apple's Latest News about Apple declining Macintosh Latest News about Macintosh computer business a new lease on life.

In the latest holiday quarter, Apple blew away Wall Street's expectations by ringing up a US$295 million profit on a record $3.5 billion in sales, led by the shipment of 4.58 million iPods in the quarter, and helped by a 26 percent growth in the company's newly redesigned iMac computer line.

No DRM in Mr. Robertson's neighborhood
Register - London,England,UK

Desktop Summit There is a shallowness to Southern California culture that can make you question the authenticity of anything coming out of the place. The boobs are fake. The faces are fake. The water is fake - pumped in from far away reservoirs. The cities are filled with bland, repetitive strip malls loaded down with chain restaurants not local cuisine. Half of the people aren't even real people at all - they're actors.

This doesn't make So Cal a bad place. It just raises immediate questions about someone like Michael Robertson of Linspire, MP3.com and SIPphone fame. Can you trust the authenticity of this blond haired, laid back executive who was raised in Los Angeles and does business in San Diego? Can you trust the motives of his battles with the likes of Microsoft and the recording industry? Is this altruism, capitalism, entrepreneurism or greed? We sat down this week here at the Linspire-sponsored Desktop Summit to try and answer some of these questions and to talk to Robertson about his latest venture - a DRM-free online music shop called MP3tunes.