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RealNetworks has made the divorce official. The company has decided to pull out of struggling online music service MusicNet barely a month after RealNetworks’ acquisition of Rhapsody. MusicNet has bled money for most of its existence, failing to find a paying audience despite boasting the backing of the record industry, which helped shutter file swapping site Napster two years ago. The only site to thrive so far of the mainstream options has been Apple’s iTunes. The site recently joined MusicNet and Pressplay as a legal download service, and already has sold more than 2 million songs in two weeks at 99 cents apiece. RealNetworks will slash that price by 20 cents with Rhapsody, the service it bought from Listen.com last month. Real will continue to provide technology for MusicNet, though it has grown continually more chilly toward the site ever since MusicNet began supporting music in formats besides Real’s. Real has since exited its spot on the MusicNet board. Rhapsody hasn’t done much better than MusicNet, subscription-wise. It has fewer than 100,000 despite being widely perceived as the easiest of the download sites to navigate.
Windows update boots users off the internet
The latest security upgrade to Windows XP was so effective that Microsoft could have offered a 100 percent guarantee of no viruses or bugs. That’s because the update accidentally booted users off the internet. Microsoft yanked the XP update this week. About 600,000 users found their internet connections nixed after downloading and installing the update, apparently because of a conflict with other security software that already was installed in their computers. The update ran into security firewalls that are supposed to protect from attack. Instead it simply thwarted users’ attempts to log on. The good news for Microsoft, and the glitch victims, is that security breaches didn’t occur with the mishap. A new update will be prepared in the next few months.
Jupiter predicts search engine market boom
Expect search engine marketing to continue to grow well into 2004. Jupiter Research released a study this week predicting that growth in that sector will increase noticeably despite a significant amount of attention already being given to search engines. Seventy-six percent of marketing executives surveyed said that they considered search engine marketing rates more successful than banner ads. More than half, 64 percent, said they planned to increase spending in that area. Perhaps not coincidentally, Jupiter also debuted a new service called Online Search this week that helps match companies with search engine strategies. According to the survey, full web searches yield better results than local site searches 52 percent of the time.
Teens with slow connections don't download
It would be nice to think that morals are what hold back many teens from downloading music illegally. Actually, it's their slow dial-up connections. A study from the Yankee Group found that 30 percent of teens who do not download music through file-swapping sites said that the reason is because of their home connection speed. Twenty percent cited moral issues. The 2003 Youth Market Survey predicts that as broadband internet connections continue to proliferate in the U.S., illegal music downloads will increase, too. There are currently about 20 million U.S. high-speed internet subscribers.
New: ESPYs ask fans to vote online for winners
The ESPYs have become the people’s choice awards of sport. ESPN, which sponsors the sports-world version of the Oscars, has decided to let fans determine who will receive individual sports recognition in its multi-category awards show. Best NFL player and best WNBA player, for example, will be voted on through ESPN.com. But categories like best game or best team will continue to be selected by the ESPY Academy. ESPN plans to cross-promote the selection process on other web sites, such as sport-specific ones, during two weeks of fan voting after the June 9 announcement of nominees. The ESPYs will take place July 16 at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.
May 29, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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