Virgin Group to launch US online music service

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Richard Branson's Virgin Group said it was jumping into the increasingly crowded market for online music, with a "Digital Megastore" offering US customers song downloads for 99 cents. The move pits the British magnate's company against the popular Apple iTunes music service, Microsoft's MSN and others offering pay-per-download.

Virgin said it would be offering more than one million songs on its site and would be selling at least 50 portable music players. "Virgin stands for innovation, fun, and an absolute dedication to customer value," said Branson in a statement. "We worked directly with passionate music fans around the world and together we've come up with a digital music service that truly defines the Virgin energy and spirit. It's time for a digital music revolution."

The venture is a new challenge for Branson, the tycoon who made his initial fortune in the record industry, heads Virgin Atlantic airlines and has also launched a string of other companies in sectors such as railways, mobile phones, Internet access and soft drinks.

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#1 Cyranthus on 27 Sep 2004 - 18:33

Virgin has always had a pretty good selection, this is what these music stores need, more selection!!!

#2 metallithrax on 27 Sep 2004 - 18:36

Being a UK company, you'd have thought it would be launched here. He likes to be a man of the people, so why not launch it with a price structure that doesn't change dependent on where you are based. One price for all.

(1 reply) #3 xEonBuRn on 27 Sep 2004 - 18:51

What they really need is to lower their prices... cuz I don't wanna pay $1 per song

#3.1 lare2 on 27 Sep 2004 - 19:46

Totally agree. There are albums that you can find for 7.00 us dlls on retail stores. While on this you have to pay 10 us dlls for them, is just not right.

#4 empty on 27 Sep 2004 - 19:44

yay!! more!!!!

#5 [C]Cathode on 27 Sep 2004 - 20:11

Woah, Branson has been busy today!
All power to the man with all his cash, but the points above are all valid. He could be more competetive.
Oh! And launch it in the UK quickly, please Richard!

(4 replies) #6 angrybrit on 27 Sep 2004 - 20:16

Too bad their downlodable music won't be playable on the iPod. And therefore making their "store" useless like all the others.

Now, back to dreaming about Tina Armstrong.

#6.1 pogz on 27 Sep 2004 - 21:52

Or even worse, too bad iTunes only supports the iPod. Therefore making iTunes useless for anyone who has an alternate (aka cheaper, more feature-rich) player.

#6.2 dp123 on 27 Sep 2004 - 21:58

A few points:

1. Cheaper: No. Apple is much more competitive than you think. Cheaper than Sony's and competitive with IRiver's, Rio's, and Dell's most comparable products.

2. More feature-rich: questionable. I don't see voice recording, radio, and a few more hours of battery life selling more of these devices; however, ease of use, feature focus, a huge array of accessories, and tight integration with the jukebox and store are certainly selling tons of iPods.

3. How is it "worse" to be compatible with 60% of the market rather than the smaller 40% segment, which is not only smaller but less profitable?

#6.3 lare2 on 28 Sep 2004 - 00:44

QUOTE

How is it "worse" to be compatible with 60% of the market rather than the smaller 40% segment, which is not only smaller but less profitable?

Weird that an APPLE fanboy agrees with this statement. It feels god to have more market % right .

#6.4 dp123 on 28 Sep 2004 - 01:28

I'm not sure what you are talking about?

Are you calling ME a fanboy or YOURSELF?

Are you asking me if I agree with the statement?... I MADE it.

Are you asking me if it's nice to have greater market share or asking me about molesting god? I could care less. I'm not Apple. I dislike and cannot comprehend claiming it's worse to be compatible with 60% rather than being compatible with 40%. Comprende?

#7 JaggedFlame on 27 Sep 2004 - 20:22

He sure looks excited.

#8 shafi on 27 Sep 2004 - 21:05

0.04 profit

(1 reply) #9 v_magal on 27 Sep 2004 - 22:10

I just wanna be able to find this album

Outbac Records Presents: Serving ya Heat- Various artists i bought this a long time ago from a car show in sacramento Any help would be greatly appreciated as i have gon to stores and can't find it there maybe just me - pm me pweeez

#9.1 dp123 on 27 Sep 2004 - 22:16

Have you heard of this thing called a search engine?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=...+Servin+ya+Heat

#10 MitchShrader on 27 Sep 2004 - 23:36

good. more non-pod stuff. great idea!

#11 AquaDex on 28 Sep 2004 - 01:34

Cool, another powered by MusicNet service, which is great!

The music selection is great too, they say they have 1,000,000 songs.

#12 panacea on 28 Sep 2004 - 02:39

gotta love the name

those guys are good. i would not be surprised if the do better then msn or even itunes.

i loved virgin trains and cellphones when i lived in UK.

#13 kingius on 28 Sep 2004 - 09:32

Virgin is a strong brand, I reckon this could be a success if he brought it over here in the UK.

#14 stevan on 28 Sep 2004 - 11:42

Virgin is awesome.

(2 replies) #15 pixlnet on 29 Sep 2004 - 00:10

Virgin's client is being designed to rip-off iTunes. Apple will be very hard to compete with as more entertainment products are delivered onto PC's. The only possible way to get users away from iTunes is to capitalize on their mistakes. If iTunes keeps up with it's album only purchases, you rid the whole point of online music. Let's hope they make good decisions while everyones watching; otherwise Virgin, MSN, Napster, etc will all be waiting.

#15.1 noyb on 29 Sep 2004 - 14:45

iTunes does not support the album only method, hence artists like Metalica not being on iTMS because they refuse to sell pick'n'mix tracks.

#15.2 cyansky on 29 Sep 2004 - 18:32

Apple can't do anything about how the albums are sold. The record companies still "once again" control how we buy music on most of these sites. This really ticks me off, grrrr.... I wish we could get rid of the music companies all together and get our music back!!!

Screw Metallica if they don't want to sell songs on a mix-and-pick basis. Those clowns were the ones that f***** us into the music situation we have now. Thank you RIAA!!! *pi**ed* Course online music might not have come as quick as it did and we might not have iTunes, Napster, Microsoft and all the 100 other places that sell online music now if it wasn't for all that happening.

Ahh....I'm done.....*blowing off steam*

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