According to AllthingsDigital, Microsoft is in early talks with MySpace in an effort to have MySpace Music tied-in with the MSN online portal.
Microsoft has its own service, MSN Music, but traffic ranks significantly lower than MySpace Music and Microsoft has been looking to kill off the service for some time.
As of April, AOL ranked on top with AOL Music at 30 million unique monthly visitors and MySpace Music fell in second at 27.4 million. MySpace’s numbers are expected to be bigger now. MSN Music was far back at 7.4 million.
Says a source close to MSN in regards to its entertainment properties: “It’s a decision to make it so MSN does less better. So there will be a focus of attention on a smaller number of categories in which we can be either #1 or #2 in, rather than #4 or #5.”
Financial details are unknown.
Result for: msn music
Microsoft has announced that it will be extending the effective lifespan of all music purchased from its now defunct MSN Music service.
When the service shut down, Microsoft imposed an August 31st deadline for the shutdown of its DRM servers effectively stopping users from authorizing the music they had purchased when the service was up and running. It appears the software giant has had a change of heart and will now extend the life of the music until “at least” 2011. Despite the new decision, the company still warns users to make permanent backups and not just leave the music on portable media players. In 2011, Microsoft will reexamine the servers and extend the period if users still require it.
The original decision had been criticized by users and was a glowing reminder of the risks of using DRM to “protect” music.
Since the close of the MSN Music service, Microsoft has been pushing its customers towards the Zune Marketplace or URGE as preferred online music services.
