May 7, 2004
A Different Perspective on Janus
I generally agree with sentiments expressed by many others (for example, Ernest) about Janus. I’m uncertain how much consumers really want to rent their music such that it dies when their subscription lapses; the DRM/copyright/contract behemoth (as noted by Ernest) also has some frightening implications.
At the same time, I do think Janus certainly is important to the growth of the online music stores, if they are to succeed in their current form. There must be some interest in the subscription market, otherwise Rhapsody and Napster 2.0 wouldn’t have any subscribers. The all-you-can-listen model certainly has appeal from a pricing standpoint on the business side, because you have lower credit card costs; from the consumer side, each listen feels like it has a marginal cost of zero and, in that way, perhaps the subscription format may feel more like P2P. One of the major barriers has been that, unlike in the pay-per-download stores, you have to pay extra to move to a portable player. Janus removes that barrier and should provide a boost to these services. Of course, much also depends on how the record labels choose to license such copying.
Certainly, Janus doesn’t solve all the problems facing the online music stores. But as far as short term growth, it will help.
Filed by Derek Slater at 2:40 pm under General news
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