“Online and mobile services offering listeners unlimited ‘free’ access to millions of songs are set to proliferate in the coming months, according to music industry executives.” – New York Times.
The TeleRead take: E-subscription services like Safari and Baen’s already exist. But how about the mainstream publishers? When will they get the message in the case of major bestsellers? Granted, many of the new subscription services are bundled with phones and so on. But what about stand-alone services, as well as options for e-book-gizmo buyers? I like the option approach out of respect for customers who just want the hardware.
Meanwhile here’s an interesting tidbit in the Times piece:
The government of the Isle of Man announced plans for a system under which consumers with broadband subscriptions would be required to pay a nominal monthly license fee. They could then legally download music from any source, even peer-to-peer services that are outlawed currently.
The webscription service is, of course, not a subscription service. Incredibly badly named, but there’s no regular subscription required. All purchases are one-off payments. It’s also not just for Baen books anymore, either.
I don’t like the idea of a subscription service for ebooks. If I didn’t want to own by books, I’d use library services much more.