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April 17, 2008

rivals

Tesco to take on iTunes?

Posted Apr. 17, ’08, 10:45 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Apple » Rivals

tesco.jpgBritish grocer giant Tesco apparently has plans to go head-to-head with iTunes.

The Guardian had a recent head-to-head debate on this topic. Here’s the shortened version:

Tesco’s latest venture, Tesco Digital, aims to be much more than a poor man’s iTunes; it plans to play Apple at its own game. When the service launches next month, it will offer 3.3 million music tracks for download, of which more than half will be DRM-free MP3 songs, meaning they can be transferred to iPods, mobile phones and a host of other music players.

And here’s the other side:

If Tesco can significantly undercut Apple - and all the other rivals to iTunes - it might have a chance. Realistically, record labels aren’t going to allow the supermarket to sell their songs at such a low price. However, with labels like EMI under pressure to increase profits, they need the support of brands like Tesco. But since Apple started selling DRM-free songs through iTunes Plus, it has pre-empted rivals’ hopes that they might fill this gap in the market.


3 Comments

Tony D said:

I have no problem with competition for iTunes, however how come the record companies won't give Apple access to DRM free music? Isn't that a bit anti competitive, I mean what if the movie industry said you can buy Blue Ray discs at any store except (insert whoever). Also while I'm at it why are all these companies selling MP3s? Personally I prefer the ACC flavor but then again thats just me. And another thing if I can download HD movies for my Apple TV why can't I download Lossless files on iTunes. Note to the record industry: I'm willing to pay for higher quality files so I don't have to buy CDs any more. Catching on???

April 17, 2008 11:15 AM
Dave-O said:

@Tony D, I agree, it's market manipulation pure and simple. They sell MP3s because a lot of players don't support AAC, they all support MP3.

That half are DRM free sounds like a fatal flaw. If you have an iPod, you can turn to your grocer (???); but make sure the track you want has no DRM. Half the time you have to go back to iTunes. Sounds pretty lame to me. I'll go to amazon where I can play everything they sell, but I can't imagine I'd utilize a service where half the tracks don't fit my needs.

April 17, 2008 11:56 AM
Anonymous said:

the fact that the record companies don't give the same number of DRM free tracks to Apple as Amazon is more an example of anti-competitive collusion than what some try to claim is Apple's monopoly with the iPod and iTunes store

April 17, 2008 4:34 PM

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