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Sky launches Songs music service
TV AND BROADBAND OPERATOR BSkyB is set to launch a music download and streaming service, going head to head against Itunes and Spotify.
Sky Songs will arrive on 19 October and will be open to anyone with a broadband connection, rather than being restricted to existing Sky customers.
The company reckons it has around four million tracks at its disposal and will let them be downloaded in a DRM-free MP3 format, allowing users to play them on just about any media player they like. Subscribers will also be able to stream unlimited quantities of their favourite warblings.
According to a Sky spokesman, the majority of the catalogue is encoded at 320kbps.
"Sky Songs will reach out to consumers who want legitimate digital services offering choice, ease of use and great value," said Mike Darcey, chief operating officer at Sky.
"Offering legal access to digital music is a vital step in combating illegal downloading."
The service will be entirely web based and to start off with there will be two subscription options available. You can either pay £6.49 a month, which gives you unlimited streaming and lets you download 10 songs or one £6.49 album. Or you can pay £7.99 and get the streaming as well as 15 songs or one £7.99 album.
Once you've used up your allocation, you can buy additional music on a per-track or per-album basis from 65p and £6.49 respectively.
James Parker, manager of broadband at broadband comparison site moneysupermarket.com branded the move as "interesting."
"On the face of it Sky Songs seems like a great offer and provides some real competition to iTunes," he said
"As broadband has become faster and more accessible over the years, downloading music has become part of everyday life for many people. The need to get the latest tracks as cheap as possible has also lead to a rise in illegal downloading but I'd hope services like Sky songs will help to curb these habits."
According to Sky, it has inked deals with all the big names in the music biz as well as a whole heap of the smaller players, so there should be something for everyone.
While the service will be available to all, Sky devotees will be rewarded with a free downloadable album worth £6.49. µ
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Spotify offers unlimited streaming for free if you don't mind listening to a few ads. For £10 per month you could get no ads and downloaded music on your phone - better deal all round.
DRM free music is good. We would like to see a service where you pay a monthly subscription and then be allowed to download unlimited mp3 tracks with no further cost. To pay a monthly cost then pay for your downloads is a rip off. If someone took on board this idea I am sure they would be popular.
Only 10 downloads. Unlimited downloads is a better option. You won't stop piracy by limiting the songs to download.
"will be open to anyone with a broadband connection"
So I'll be able to use it from Canada then? No?
They got rid of the DRM crap, now they need to stop carving up the world and leT any one willing to pay, buy what they want.