In any case, it cannot be denied its excellent user experience, iTunes now does occupy more than 90% of the digital music market, but the speed of change in the Internet field is too fast, and if you miss the opportunity if you don't react in time, it may be subverted.

If these factors of MusicSpace only made Joe's gang members quite serious, then another factor definitely made him anxious.

That factor is...... Microsoft!

Open this music software launched by Bluestar Technology, and you will find that it is synchronized with Outlook contacts and Windows users.

Apple has an iTunes+iPod combination, but Bluestar Technology also indirectly owns the MusicSpace+Windows combination, although it is not as good as Apple's combination, but at least it has this model.

As for the relationship between Joe and Gates, between Apple and Microsoft, the two sides have loved and killed each other since the last century, and they still look down on each other anyway, and they are also attacking each other in some talk shows, and they are very happy.

And Jobs has never thought about porting the iTunes music store to Windows so far, because Apple has its own Macs to sell, but in any case, he has to admit the dominance of Windows in the PC market.

In fact, Microsoft executives are also holding a meeting around Bluestar Technology's new product MusicSpace, Microsoft bought Synapse from Luo Sheng very early in order to compete with iTunes+Mac, but Microsoft has invested a lot in Synapse but has never improved, and was basically killed by iTunes.

The emergence of MusicSpace, with such a brilliant performance in just one week, undoubtedly made Microsoft see a new dawn.

After a meeting, Microsoft's senior management decided to help MusicSpace software thrive on Windows, but Microsoft was not a selfless move, but forced Apple to port the iTunes music store to Windows, so that Joe Gang Leader bowed his arrogant head and compromised.

Now Microsoft is much more relaxed, they firmly believe that Apple will not make a mistake in the current situation not to launch a Windows version of the music store, Apple now represents the niche, and Windows represents the public, unless Apple wants to always be a niche "non-mainstream".

After the executive meeting, Jobs decided at the meeting to immediately develop a Windows version of the iTunes music store, which can be described as very decisive.

But there is no time to face the enemy, because Apple has reached a secret research plan with Motorola, which is also the beginning of Apple's official entry into the mobile phone market.

……

White is an Internet audiophile, but also a hardcore music enthusiast, and is also a super fan of Eminem, calling himself "Stan", the singer is currently a rap superstar who is red and purple, although the media has a bad opinion of him, because the words starting with the letter F in his songs are not uncommon, but it does not prevent him from being chased by fans in Europe and the United States, especially North America, and every album is sold out.

Of course, to say that MJ is still firmly in the top spot in the world music scene in this era, no one is more popular than him, and no one wants to challenge his status.

Luo Sheng really wanted to get MJ's digital rights, but unfortunately he couldn't get it, or he couldn't afford it.

However, MJ's brilliance did not overshadow Eminem's talent, as a white man in the rap field, which has always been a black man's specialty.

These factors have made White a resident user of MusicSapce, and he is also a veteran user of [BlueSpace], which is now one of the most popular sites in North America where he is embarrassed to say that he is a veteran of the Internet without a [BlueSpace] social media account.

Wright fell in love with the product after opening the MusicSapce software for the first time, and registered users have a super convenient way, that is, it can be done directly through the BlueSpace social chain authorization, many users want to be like White, without registering a new account, all with their existing BlueSpace license.

One of the great perks for new users of MusicSpace is that they can listen to all the music on the app for free for a week, and the 2.25 million songs in the library basically cover all the popular music of the moment, as well as exclusive music.

This trick is really effective in the North American market, the proud and ignorant Mi people did not feel the power of free at all, Luo Sheng originally wanted to be free for 1 month, but the record company did not do it, and warned Luo Sheng, defining his behavior as a destroyer of the market environment.

If he insists on doing so, the record company will take back all the copyright after it expires, and he will not even want to get the license for the new song.

After the two sides negotiated, they each took a step back and compressed it to a week.

Free is a very harsh word for major record companies, and it has been psychologically shadowed by Napster in the early years, which can be described as a change of color.

The record company is also afraid that Luo Sheng will disrupt the market, and when the time comes, they will burn each other's money, and Apple's iTunes will also be free, and everyone will have no money to make.

In any case, Luo Sheng's free Dafa has been greatly suppressed, but the one-week free listening benefit still brings a good attraction to MusicSpace.

The day after the launch of this software, White learned about this music software for PC through the promotion of BlueSpace, and today it has passed the free period.

It's been a whole week, and White can't wait to go back in time, and the feeling of listening to whatever he wants is simply not too nice.

White thought about re-registering a new user and replacing it after expiration, so that he could basically continue to listen for free, but found that MusicSpace's registration mechanism is the same as BlueSpace's, which requires real-name registration.

To a certain extent, this restricts the proliferation of white prostitution parties, and the other is the copyright awareness of North American users, and there are also certain constraints at the moral level, the key is that people will not easily take out their identities to authorize others to use, and Europeans and Americans are very sensitive to matters involving privacy.

In fact, Bluestar Technology is quite lenient in this regard, if it is changed to a record company, it is absolutely strictly guarded, blocking everything that can be thought of in all ways.

But Bluestar Technology is different, it is an Internet company, and the number of users is very important.

Especially when the company is still in the development stage and the user data is bright, Luo Sheng has more confidence to speak out loud and get more financing with less equity transfer when looking for VC financing.

If it weren't for the threat of the record company, Luo Sheng would definitely be more relaxed, first cast a wide net, and then cancel the free benefits, even if half of the users are lost, the rest are high-quality users, and the final absolute growth rate must be more exaggerated than now, and quantitative changes can cause qualitative changes.

White searched for rapper [Eminem], and selected a single "Lose Yourself" in the list of catalogs, which can be auditioned for 90 seconds, decisively connected to the sound equipment and clicked play, and his body unconsciously shook to the rhythm of the music.

Then click to buy, and when he saw the price, White muttered in surprise: "God, so cheap?" It's only $0.59 USD/head? ”

Stunned for a while, White did not hesitate to click on the purchase, he is a relatively fashionable Internet player, has his own PayPal, and the music store is connected to PayPal online payment.

I immediately started buying on it, ticked 100 singles in one go, and paid $59.

If a Chinese person sees it, he will definitely be shocked, and the equivalent exchange rate will cost nearly ¥5 yuan for a song, which is no different from robbery, and it costs five yuan to listen to a broken song?

But in North America, $0.59 for a song is definitely super cheap, you know, in this era, even in North America, most Internet users still buy CDs, download pirated copies of music, and piracy is illegal, Apple's iTunes ended pirated downloads, Napster closed its doors.

Apple's iTunes attracts users with a low price of $0.99 per song, and yes, even though $0.99 is a low price, and the MusicSpace music store is almost half as cheap as iTunes.

It is also understandable why the first thing some foreigners do when they go to China and go online is to download music like crazy, because it's all free.

……