Rumour: Microsoft And Sanity To Finally Launch Their Online Music Store

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When Microsoft launched Vista in January last year, one of the most “exciting” aspects was the collaboration between Microsoft and Sanity to provide an online music service that would be integrated into Windows Media Player. It would offer both pay-per-track downloads, plus an all-you-can-eat subscription buffet that allowed you to transfer unlimted tracks to a WMA DRM-compatible MP3 player.

It never happened.

Until now. Apparently. Smarthouse is reporting  that the service is currently being tested in Melbourne, and is set to go live between the end of May or early June.

The reason for the delay, apparently, is that the service’s UK developers were completely useless not up to the task, so Sanity had to give them the flick and start from scratch here in Australia.

Microsoft is keeping quiet on whether or not this story is legit, as it is “commercially sensitive” information.

With Nokia recently entering the local online music distribution scene, joining Apple, Bigpond and a host of smaller players, our question to you is this: Do you care? Considering that the music is likely to be DRM’d to the hilt and you won’t be able to play it on an iPod, will this Vista-only music store make any sort of impact if it ever launches?

[Smarthouse]


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