UK music download sites create new means of identifying music that can played on any portable media player device.Many consumers are still unaware if the music downloads they purchase from a given site will be compatible with the PC, Mac, or portable music players they may own. Ask any of your friends about their iTunes purchases and they seem oblivious to the fact that Apple has essentially locked them in for life to a proprietary system that makes their purchases worthless outside without time consuming conversion operations. Enter HMV, Woolworths, 7digital, Digitalstores, Tescodigital, Tunetribe, and Play.com, seven of the UK's largest digital music download sites who have banded together to create a new "MP3 100% Compatible" logo that allows consumers to accurately identify songs that will play on any given digital player they choose.
"The beauty of an MP3 file is that once you have bought it, you don't need to be a computer genius or a lawyer to make it work and you are not locked in to a relationship with a single retailer or hardware manufacturer," said 7digital's Ben Drury. The comments certainly single out digital music download services like Apple's iTunes which makes purchases only playable on its iPod portable music player device. Many have long complained about the difficulty in determining what music downloads can play on what platform and the new logo seeks to address that very problem. The British Phonographic Institute also sees it as means for allowing consumers to accurately identify legal music downloads. "This logo will not only help give consumers confidence that the music files they are buying will play on a wide range of devices, but will also help them know that they are legal and that artists are getting paid,"said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor. The logo was created by the Entertainment Retailers Association who hopes that it will become the basis for an international system of identifying MP3s that can played on any platform. jared@zeropaid.com |
 
|
members that voted for this story
|
