MSN's Euro Moves.

Navigation: Main page

Author: Koranteng, Juliana

MSN Music is now available in 13 European countries, compared with 12 for Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store.

However, Amsterdam-based analyst Paul Jackson of Forrester Research suggests that questions remain about Microsoft's international strategy. He points out that the company's moves in Europeâ€"partnering with OD2 and cdon.comâ€"differ from its plan in the States, where it created the music store by itself. "Can you really call that a global strategy?" Jackson asks.

He adds, "If anyone was in a position to challenge iTunes' [market] lead, it is MSN. Although a lot more people have a relationship with Microsoft's operating system and the MSN portalâ€"making MSN Music a potentially strong brandâ€"that relationship is not one usually linked with the exchange of money. And it is always tricky to convert something that is free into something that generates revenue."

The potential crack in Apple's armor is its refusal to open its proprietary technology to other online music service providers: Songs from iTunes will play only on Apple's iPod. But the strategy has demonstrated that people are willing to pay for iTunes, Jackson notes.

"Apple's iPod has become the audio player to own," he says. "If Apple then chooses to open up its technology to other music service providers, iTunes could become the industry standard."

In contrast, MSN Music is compatible with more than 70 digital players that are Microsoft Windows Media Audio-enabled and manufactured by other companies. The WMA technology for digitizing and protecting copyright of music tracks is integrated into Microsoft's operating system, which the company says is installed on more than 90% of the world's PCs.

That operating system also features Microsoft's Windows Media Player and its Internet Explorer browser.

MSN Portal GM Hadi Partovi, who is based in Redmond, Wash., admits that MSN's presence in 40 countries and Microsoft's dominance of the PC market will not automatically give MSN Music the lead in the digital-music race.

"Most consumers," Partovi says, "buy their PCs from hardware manufacturers [like Dell or Hewlett Packard], which regularly change the default settings on their computers, and these manufacturers can choose the initial active music service in the Windows Media Player."

PHOTO (COLOR): AVERDIECK: MSN PUSHING TO BE A GLOBAL BRAND

~~~~~~~~

By Juliana Koranteng