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  • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15 2005 8:00 AM

Virgin Out to Fuck Napster

Submitted by Shal

Edited by Shal

Virgin has launched Red Pass, a music downloading service with artists from over 15,000 different labels that allows you to download as much as you want for $7.99 a month, and with no contract required.

Users can choose from more than 2 million tracks representing at least 15,000 record labels, said Zack Zalon, president of Virgin Digital. Red Pass also provides 60 professionally programmed Internet radio stations, CD ripping and burning provisions and a host of other new features.

"We created this service because we wanted people to listen to and discover more music than they ever have before," he said. "Granted, the digital music space is becoming more populated, but we believe our 35-year history in music enables us to offer consumers a certain level of musical expertise that other services simply can't provide."

One of Red Pass' unusual features is that users can let their subscription lapse, yet all of their downloaded music and options will be restored when the account is reactivated. Additionally, all purchased tracks will be replaced free should a user's computer crash or be lost or stolen within a year.



Sorry, Apple fans... Virgin Red Pass is not yet compatible with Mac OS X, and songs can't yet be loaded onto an iPod. The program supports players and mobile phones from Dell, Creative, iRiver, Samsung, RCA, Motorola, Alienware, Rio, and Archos, and they claim to be adding more support on a daily basis.

You can even try the service for free to see if you're into it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a free trial to check out...

 

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Comments
NickFaust

NickFaust

USA
April 2004

NOV 15, 2005 08:03 AM

Assholes!

Why would they not support the player with the most market penetration?

Assholes!

FrankMask

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN
June 2003

NOV 15, 2005 08:08 AM

I love Virgin. They're what evil globe spanning corporations should be.

Akrasia

Akrasia

Ireland
August 2004

NOV 15, 2005 08:09 AM

Are you being sarcastic?
maybe because Apple are being assholes and don't want them to compete with their I tunes business.

NickFaust

NickFaust

USA
April 2004

NOV 15, 2005 08:20 AM

Akrasia said:
Are you being sarcastic?
maybe because Apple are being assholes and don't want them to compete with their I tunes business.



Well in that case, they are all assholes!

almostfamous

almostfamous

NEWSWIRE

United Kingdom

NOV 15, 2005 08:23 AM

NickFaust said:
Assholes!

Why would they not support the player with the most market penetration?

Assholes!



not really their choice.

apple won't let anyone else use their DRM
the copyright holders won't allow the music to be sold without DRM
so virgin have to use protected WMA
which apple doesn't support on the ipod.

when you choose an ipod, you choose itunes. just the way it is.

Ziricote

Ziricote

United Kingdom
January 2005

NOV 15, 2005 08:23 AM

Got to wonder how the artists themselves are going to make a living if their work is being sold for pennies, and in this case potentially less if the user downloads huge quantities of music.

Shal

Shal

Los Angeles, CA
October 2002

NOV 15, 2005 08:24 AM

Dubhglais said:
Got to wonder how the artists themselves are going to make a living if their work is being sold for pennies, and in this case potentially less if the user downloads huge quantities of music.



Because the artists themselves make very close to nothing off music sales. Most of their money comes from touring and merch sales.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

NOV 15, 2005 08:41 AM

damn you rebel billionaire!

AtomiPIETRO

AtomiPIETRO

Naples, FL
April 2004

NOV 15, 2005 08:54 AM

Coming soon: Virgin Petroleum

emilygee

emilygee

Chicago, IL
December 2003

NOV 15, 2005 09:38 AM

God damn I wish that these corps would just play nice and come up with a uniform DRM that works across platforms for both movies and music. I refuse to purchase multiple devices to create a digital library of media.

Cyberbrak

Cyberbrak

Two Rivers, WI
September 2004

NOV 15, 2005 11:09 AM

Best story title EVER!!!!!!!!

BlueCadet

BlueCadet

Austin, TX
August 2003

NOV 15, 2005 11:33 AM

Whoah wait, I don't own an Ipod, but I was thinking about getting one...If I understand correctly, you can only upload MP3's you've downloaded off of Itunes on to your Ipod? If this is the case all the MP3's on my computer are useless, in which case fuck Macintosh. If I pay them a couple of hundred bucks for their player I should be able to use it however I damn well please. It's like selling someone a dinner plate and then telling them they're only allowed to eat Arby's off of it.

Unless of course I'm mis understanding something here confused

mydogfarted

mydogfarted

Oakland, NJ
June 2003

NOV 15, 2005 11:51 AM

PurePhase said:
Whoah wait, I don't own an Ipod, but I was thinking about getting one...If I understand correctly, you can only upload MP3's you've downloaded off of Itunes on to your Ipod? If this is the case all the MP3's on my computer are useless, in which case fuck Macintosh. If I pay them a couple of hundred bucks for their player I should be able to use it however I damn well please. It's like selling someone a dinner plate and then telling them they're only allowed to eat Arby's off of it.

Unless of course I'm mis understanding something here confused



iTunes will import MP3s from your computer so they can be uploaded to your iPod. It will also convert them to their AAC format if you like - AAC is a smaller file format. There are ways around DRM, including Apple's - such as the jHymn project.

hell

hell

Austin, TX
February 2003

NOV 15, 2005 11:55 AM

Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??

teddybaar

teddybaar

Redmond, WA
OLD SKOOL

NOV 15, 2005 12:13 PM

Shouldn't that read, "sorry Virgin fans"?

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