Petteri Pyyny
4 Apr 2001 2:22
Just few days after Real had announced its licensing contracts with EMI, AOL/TimeWarner and BMG, Microsoft launches its counter-attack in order to fight against RealPlayer's dominant position on Internet media player markets.
MSN Music launches today allowing users to stream music in WMA format to their Windows MediaPlayers from large selection of music. MSN Music allows users to pick music based on their "mood" or genres.
MSN Music doesn't allow music downloads, being just one big streaming station with Microsoft's money, knowledge and marketing power.
Today's launch is not "official launch" but public beta launch instead. But timing is critical and MS had to push the product out to the public before Real's MusicNet gains too much popularity.