Hoping to put a dent in the popularity of Apple Computer Inc.'s music download service, online music subscription providers are readying services that allow users to shift rented songs to portable digital music players.
If the offerings catch on, it would mark a victory for Web music providers such as Napster, MusicNow and MusicNet@AOL and for Microsoft Corp., which is providing the software designed to ensure that the enhanced subscription-based services can be offered without opening a new front for digital piracy.
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Music subscription providers allow members listen to an unlimited number of songs for a monthly fee, but the services have been hamstrung by restrictions on transferring the songs to digital music players.
But providers say the new digital rights management technology, code-named Janus, from Microsoft, will enable subscribers to listen to music subscriptions on the go, while providing assurance to record companies that their copyrighted content will not be pirated.
By contrast, Apple's hugely popular online music store iTunes allows users to buy songs outright that they can then transfer to one of the company's popular iPod music players.
With Janus, online music subscription providers say they will have an answer for users complaining about not being able to take their music with them beyond their personal computers.
"The platform enables subscription content to be transferred to a device, making it easier for these services to deliver," said Erin Cullen, lead product manager, Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
Microsoft's MSN plans to launch a music service this fall.
Both MusicNow, owned by Circuit City Stores Inc. and Napster are preparing to offer their services on portable players in addition to PCs.
"Janus is only going to make the subscription model even better by letting people listen to the music wherever they are for one fee. We think it's the model that most closely resembles the peer-to-peer model," said a spokeswoman for Napster, a unit of Roxio Inc..
"The promise of a portable subscription is one we've been looking forward to for quite a while and should allow the the consumer to make a monogamous music decision," said Greg Rudin, vice president of marketing for MusicNow.
Other industry players remain more cautious.
"We believe portable subscriptions are very interesting but we see it coming to fruition in 2005 for the industry. Several things are standing in the way, like uncertainty about pricing and issues around music licensing," said Erika Schaffer, a spokeswoman for RealNetworks.
MusicNow's Rudin said the company was finalizing licensing with music labels and expected its portable service to be launch in the third or fourth quarter,
Neither MusicNow or Napster have determined pricing. Napster has said it will cost more than the current service's $9.95 a month fee, but less than $20.
Various manufacturers like Creative Labs, Rio, Dell and iRiver will produce portable music players that work with Microsoft's Janus software, according to Microsoft.
"So far, Apple's been a big fish in a small pond, but the big players are about to enter the market with various services from a group of pretty significant players," said Alan McGlade, chief executive officer of MusicNet, which provides download and subscription infrastructures to service distributors.
Service providers like MusicNow will argue that consumers can get better value with a portable subscription than buying downloads individually on Apple's iTunes.
"It would take almost $7,500 to fill an iPod with 7,500 songs, while you can fill a device with that many songs in the first month of a portable subscription at about $20-something a month," said Rudin of MusicNow.
Apple declined to comment.
