RIP – MSN Music

Michael Gartenberg | November 02, 2006, 11:09 AM

Well, that’s a little more dramatic of a title than it actually is, MSN Music as a site will still be around but it looks like Microsoft is getting MSN Music out of the transaction business. Going forward, clicking the purchase link will take you to your choice of either Rhapsody purchase or Zune purchase. Both are significant, since neither of them are Plays For Sure. While it’s not like there’s a lot of folks that actually bought music from the MSN music store, it would seem those folks are in a bind. If they start buying from Zune , they will need to get to get a new Zune device, and their existing music won’t go with them. If they go Rhapsody, new stuff they purchase likely won’t work on devices they currently own either, but at least a new Rhapsody compatible device will also allow them to play their old content. I’m surprised Microsoft didn’t try to offer something like replacement for existing content in either Rhapsody or Zune formats. Either way, it shows the problems of picking the wrong format in a format war, especially when one format owns >75% of the market. I wonder how many of these folks will end up going neither to REAL or Zune and in the end, just buying an iPod.