PC Pro online music exposé: UK public pays too much for too little

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 22 Apr 2005 at 11:25

The new issue of PC Pro, which goes on general sale today, includes a headline-grabbing exposé of the UK's online music market. It reveals what many have suspected for some time: that the British public is being asked to pay too much money for tracks, that the music is often poorly encoded, and that the limitations over what people can and can't do with the tracks are strict to the point of draconian.

'What people don't understand is that when they buy an iPod or other digital music player, they're being tied into a system,' believes Deputy Labs Editor, Nick Ross. 'Many of our readers have already been caught out, buying tracks but being unable to play them on their player.'

One PC Pro reader spent £40 downloading music from an online store only to find that although his MP3 player played Windows Media Audio (WMA) files that he created, it wouldn't play the copyright-protected WMA files he'd bought. 'What was I supposed to do,' he said, 'take them back to the shop? It's way too confusing.'

To make matters worse, we report that people are paying too much for tracks. 'Digital music only accounts for 2 per cent of the market because the stores and music industry are being greedy, paranoid and treating customers with contempt,' according to Ross . 'A song bought in the USA on iTunes or Napster costs 79 cents but in the UK costs 79 pence - ridiculous when the exchange rate is almost $2 to £1.'

In our conclusive round-up of the online sites, we found that the only online store worthy of recommendation was an American site - www.audiolunchbox.com - that had struck deals with independent music labels. 'Its prices are reasonable, as you can buy in US dollars, there's no restriction on what you can do with the music, and it's high quality encoding too,' said Ross.

But PC Pro believes the best business model comes from Russian site, www.allofmp3.com. 'This sells a huge variety of music, in the format and quality of your choice. Unfortunately, the royalties it pays are miniscule making it little better than illegal file swapping. However, where the illegal Napster pioneered the world of online music delivery, allofmp3.com is pioneering the business model that big business should follow.'

In other news PC Pro found the Rio Carbon to be the best MP3 player on the market. 'Its miniscule dimensions, svelte looks and sublime ergonomics help it stand out against 22 competitors including the brand new 2nd generation iPod mini and brand new 30GB iPod photo,' said Ross.

'Although we highly-rate the new iPods', we once again have to warn our readers about buying them. Whether they know it or not, most computer users will have music libraries consisting of WMA files (the default type used by Windows) and these simply won't work with iPods.'

Read the full group tests, of online music stores and MP3 players, in the latest June PC Pro (issue 128).

PC Pro's online store ratings
Audio Lunchbox www.audiolunchbox.com 6/6 (Recommended)
Napster www.napster.co.uk 5/6
Audible www.audible.com 4/6
iTunes www.itunes.com 4/6
Tesco www.tescodownloads.com 2/6

PC Pro's MP3 Player recommendations
Rio Carbon (Labs Winner)
30GB iPod Photo
6GB iPod Mini
iRiver H300 Series
also iRiver iFP-900 series (Recommended flash player)
iPod Shuffle (Best Value flash player)