With the introduction of the iTunes Music Store, Apple brought the business model of buying music online to the masses at 99 cents a song. iTunes changed the dynamic of the music business: consumers re-discovered the single and no longer had to buy a whole CD to get the one song they might want. It's a model that's worked well: I've bought a lot of music from the folks in Cupertino over the years, and so has everyone else: Apple's one of the largest music retailers in the industry.

Having said that, Apple's model isn't the only one out there. Microsoft, Real, Napster and others have all tried to push the subscription model that allows users to consume as much music as they wish from a catalog of millions of songs for a monthly fee. Some services, such as Microsoft's Zune Pass, also allow users to keep a certain number of songs each month in unprotected format. Although subscription services will likely continue to need be protected by some sort of DRM I don't really have an issue with that. Technology like DRM should be used to create new business models, not protect old ones.

You've known how to wirelessly connect the music on your computer with your massive hi-fi speakers since about the dawn of the caveman, but that doesn't mean Creative won't try to make it seem revolutionary. The company has this week announced immediate availability of its Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes, which essentially functions as a wireless adapter for any pair of regular old speakeroonies. The name is a marketing-inspired misnomer as the device will work with all manner of software, including Windows Media Player, Napster, Rhapsody, LastFM and even YouTube. The relative straightforwardness of this unit is appealing, though we're skeptical about Creative's claims of zero signal drop-offs, given that transmissions are done via the already crowded 2.4GHz wireless frequency. If you just have to hear it for yourself, entry fee is $149.99.

It's all pending an official announcement later this morning but both the New York Times and San Jose Mercury News are reporting that Best Buy and TiVo are forming a "broad partnership." Under the multi-year alliance, Best Buy will "heavily" promote TiVo products at its 1,100 stores across the US. TiVo, for its part, will develop a special flavor of its set-top box that will be sold in Best Buy stores and lets the retailer advertise its products and services directly to TiVo subscribers -- items can then be purchased via the TiVo remote. The alliance goes even deeper as it will see TiVo's software and search tools added to Best Buy's own-branded consumer electronics (like Insignia and Dynex HDTVs) and Best Buy's Napster music service will become available to TiVo subscribers on their TVs. While this all sounds like a win-win for the two corporations, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says that the Best Buy-customized TiVo with Napster won't likely arrive until "early next year" while the inclusion of TiVo's interface on Best Buy's Insignia or Dynex TVs is even "further out." Until then the benefits for us, the consumers, are less clear.

P.S. That's our mock-up above of what we imagine the Best Buy TiVo will look like.

Update: Aaaand, it's official.

[Via ITVT]

Read -- San Jose Mercury news
Read -- New York Times

Like subscription music services? You know, like Microsoft's Zune Pass where you pay $14.99 monthly and keep up to 10 tracks each month forever. Sure, renting music at $180 per year can be a drag for those stuck in a Classic Rock phase, but for those who like to explore, what if we told you that Napster was about to cut that price to $60 per year and let you keep a handful of tracks forever on the side? Well, it's true. Starting tonight, Napster will unleash its new $5 per month deal that gives subscribers unlimited, on-demand streaming access to Napster's full library of music stuffed with 7 million tracks from major and independent publishers. To sweeten the deal, Best Buy's music service will even let you keep up to five unrestricted "CD quality" MP3 tracks each month. Honestly, what's keeping you? Wouldn't you rather have this than a $5 Mocha Frappuccino? Full press release after the break.

It's been a long, tumultuous road for Napster, but the music service once loathed by James Alan Hetfield will soon be property of Best Buy. Announced this morning, the retail giant has agreed to buy Napster Inc. for a staggering $121 million, $67 million of which will be cold, hard cash. The deal is set to close in Q4 of this year, and it will include Napster's "700,000 digital entertainment subscribers, web-based customer-service platform and mobile capabilities." According to Best Buy president Brian Dunn, it intends to use "Napster's capabilities and digital subscriber base to reach new customers with an enhanced experience for exploring and selecting music and other digital entertainment products over an increasing array of devices." We're still remaining calm for the moment, but if Best Buy starts buying up unprecedented amounts of dark fiber without explanation, we'll go ahead and assume it really is trying to take over the world.

Heads up, MP3 lovers, because Naptser launched its DRM-free music store today. As promised to throngs of fans, the historical pirate network has converted its entire music catalog of an impressive six million songs into MP3s to be sold at $.99 each or $9.95 for albums. Subscribers will remain in DRM land, however, so don't go getting any crazy ideas.

They had already been considering it and now it's official -- Napster will be converting its entire downloads catalogue to 100% DRM-free MP3s (innit funny how things come full circle?) in Q2 of this year. With all track and album sales offered exclusively in MP3 format, the company obviously hopes to attract a certain crowd heretofore locked out of its business model. While the subscription service will remain a core focus, Napster execs are surely hoping to see an uptick in their direct download sales when those teeming iPod and iPhone hordes come knocking second quarter.

After a month or so of delays, Samsung has finally launched its P2 media player in the States; and it's not putting the 3-inch touchscreen sporting, flash-based, Bluetooth-enabled DAP out there all by its lonesome. Today Samsung announced MPfreedom, a website with info and customization doohickeys, and of course content partnerships with the likes of CinemaNow, Rhapsody and Napster. As we heard before, Samsung is also going to be supporting the player through "Blue Wave" firmware upgrades, the first of which is due for December, and will include Bluetooth phone call and file transfer integration, along with AAC compatibility -- currently only WMA and MP3 are supported -- and some other frills. Samsung is emphasizing its 3-inch, 16:9 display that can run video at 30fps (WMV and MPEG-4), and of course the touchscreen "EmoTure" tap 'n slide interface. The player is available in 2GB, 4GB ($199) and 8GB ($249) capacities, in your choice of black, white or red. There's 35 hours of music playback or 5 hours of video on the battery, and Samsung tossed in an FM radio for good measure.

There's really not much to say about the new simple-as-could-be ZoneBridge BR100, but it's got a pretty specific function and seems prepared to carry that out. Sonos primarily sees the BR100 as a range extender, specifically solving the problem of some households wasting a ZP80 or ZP100 locked away in a closet with their router due to the requirement of at least one Zone being hard plugged directly into the network. The unit itself is smallish, light and of quality construction -- and that's really all there is to it. As for firmware 2.5, Napster is obviously the primary addition, but we're pretty partial to the new search function; text input is a chore, but there's really no better way to locate your own music or track down new tracks on the multiple music services available to the system.

Busy morning for Sonos so let's just get to it. First, the ZoneBridge BR100 is out and official for $100 just like we expected. It features a pair of Ethernet ports to link your Xbox 360, TiVo, etc. into the Sonos network and onto the nets. It'll also extend coverage to network dead spots without having to unload $350 for another Zone. The free 2.5 firmware update brings direct, PC-less access to Napster's new 4.0 Web platform and Best Buy's Digital Music Store. The update also tweaks features and zone management while adding a new search function which spans both premium services and your home music library. Available now at Sonos which sits just beyond that little read link.

[Via PC Magazine]

We suppose the third time's a charm. AT&T and Napster have quite the history of offering up lackluster deals to customers -- first with that $14.95 Napster To Go scam on Cingular, then the free Napster To Go on AT&T -- but they're finally doing it up right and offering wireless downloads from Napster's 5 million strong catalog to AT&T's music-starved subscribers. Right now your options with the carrier are eMusic for some spendy wireless downloads, or the iPhone. Unfortunately, while Napster bests eMusic on selection, the price remains the same at $7.49 per five songs, and these ain't no DRM-free affair like eMusic. The Napster service will also allow for $1.99 a la carte purchases, something eMusic lacks, and with every purchase you receive an email on your PC to help you download a copy of the track. Verizon and Sprint have quite the jump on AT&T when it comes to over-the-air music downloads, but we'll see if AT&T can start to gain some ground starting early next month when the service launches. Oh, and before you ask: no, Napster won't work on the iPhone.

According to news out today, Napster is attempting a fevered slide back into the game with a relaunch of its music-download service, featuring a heavier emphasis on web-based streaming capabilities. The new "4.0" platform the company is touting boasts improved compatibility, as playlists and content and be accessed from any computer, without the use of additional software -- though if you want to get that music onto a player, you're still stuck with Napster's proprietary application and list of compatible players. In addition to the accessibility revamp, the company says it has further plans to embrace DRM-free music in 2008, which makes sense, as the portal's music has heretofore been unplayable on Apple's products -- which have the largest market share. Can that rascally cat pick up the pieces? Only time will tell.

[Thanks, Jon]

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

The iPod and iTunes haven't ostensibly suffered for (and have arguably gained from the) lack of a subscription music service. However, while such services have proven a tough sell to consumers at large, they have their benefits. One is the general liberation from the 30-second sample, a tiny prison of time that makes it difficult to engage in meaningful music discovery, the silver lining in the digital cloud that has been raining on the music industry for so many years.

In contrast to Rhapsody, Napster and Microsoft's Zune Pass, which offer several ways within their software for subscribers to hear full tracks in which they might be interested, Apple has recently turned "out of band" for music discovery. The high-profile announcement with Starbucks at the introduction of Apple's latest round of iPods brings the portable devices to where the free music is rather than vice versa. Among Apple's portable music players, the automatic track identification works only with the iPod touch and the iPhone. However, the flat-panel televisions in New York City Starbucks locations also note PCs and Macs as suitable (and prevalent) clients for purchasing music played at the popular coffee retailer.

An encouraging aspect of the collaboration between Starbucks and Apple is that the right company is making the brown product. However, one hot spot of trouble brewing in this Half-n-Half is that one can listen to the music only at a Starbucks location. This begs whether Apple would continue such a partnership when the iPhone finally gets access to 3G (perhaps to the scandalous exclusion of AT&T) or whether it or another device such as the iPod touch embrace WiMAX. But extending access to Starbucks' percolated playlists need not wait for such wireless advances. The two companies could enable access via a simple option in iTunes that would stream Starbucks' Hear Music XM station -- or an equivalent -- via any broadband connection.

It seems like everyone wants to get a piece of the Apple pie this week -- even old, crazy Napster. According to an article in InformationWeek, Napster has issued a damning statement to investors "warning" them of the "possible" impact the iPhone might have on its business, due to the incompatibility of the online distributor's WMA formatted music and the Apple device. "Our software is not compatible with the iPod," the statement included, thus noting one of the more obvious aspects of the company's dilemma, and went on to proffer that it does not expect the Napster service to be compatible with the iPhone either. Of course, Apple has never been overflowing with hospitality towards non-Cupertino-blessed formats, but it seems like Napster may have shot itself in the foot by attempting to position themselves as direct competition to the juggernaut. The rest of the statement didn't comment on Napster's apparent confusion concerning its own business practices (whether it wants to compete with Apple, or play nice), or question if not selling iPod/iTunes compatible music had contributed to their fiscal year losses of $36.8 million. When reached for comment, a spokesman for the company said emphatically, "we just can't stop doing this to ourselves, whatever it is that we seem to be doing, and we're worried it could affect sales."

Following Best Buy's move to team up with SanDisk and Real for an online music service, Circuit City has now conjured up a deal of its own as it works with Napster to provide yet another subscription-based solution. The simply-titled Circuit City + Napster seemingly won't deviate from what Napster's current service already offers, but the partnership does tease "access to exclusive songs and new releases on a weekly basis" when it launches on April 29th. In what appears to be little more than a marketing effort to get the $14.95 per month service into more retail space, the low-key offering will give new customers their first month gratis, five free song downloads (you know, the ones you "keep"), and the ability to purchase individual song downloads at 99-cents apiece. Furthermore, prepaid download cards can be snapped up in bundles of 15, 25, or 60 tracks, and we can only assume the playback restrictions from the current Napster service will carry over into this.

[Via Yahoo]