Sony looks like they are planning to enter the music subscription service. They look very promising from a detail you will hear afterwards. Even though Sony BMG is a record label, that can’t stop it from being a crash-and-burn music download service. The price range is just your average US $9-12 per month. Song BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz also said that there will be also way to buy “unexpiring” music a-la-carte in addition to subscribing to the service which will you all-you-can-download music store. Nothing new there. But what he added is that the music library downloads will be compatible with all types of DRM devices, including the iPod! I would be very excited to see all-you-can-download type services for the iPod that doesn’t involve breaking any DRM code. Maybe we can actually see someone competing with Apple’s iTunes. I am very anxious to know when this service will be released, but Mr. CEO did not specify a time.

VIA Ars Technica

Who would have seen it coming? XBOX 360 sales in February 2008 were lagging behind in both the Nintendo WII and the PlayStation 3. Microsoft’s claim of “hardware shortages” does sound believable to me. But personally, I think these will be one of the few times this will happen. One month of lagging, believe it or not, has caused a few sparks of the 360 finally letting down. I don’t think it’s Microsoft’s time for letting down yet.

As a side note, XBOX 360’s games are still best sellers.

VIA eFluxMedia