It also struck content deals with EMusic and other music Web sites. Virgin Entertainment Group said its megastores throughout the United States and Canada would let shoppers search for popular music using Digital on Demand kiosks, which include music by Sony and EMI artists such as Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and Lauryn Hill. The kiosks are to be compatible with Diamond's Rio portable music players and will let consumers download digital music to CDs, DVDs or minidiscs. But the high points and heavy investments haven't been without their sobering moments. Forrester Research had predicted that a million players would be sold, but figures so far show that only 500,000 to 600,000 units have been purchased, the firm said.
Digital music is obviously here to stay.
But because of royalty and licensing issues, you're not seeing mainstream or big-name music available for download. We need a better supply of desirable music, and this has to go beyond people who are wired. Some of the Big Five already are plowing ahead. EMI said that through its partnerships with retailers and secure digital music encoder Liquid Audio , it will offer singles for sale via the Net. But like others in the industry, EMI wants to safeguard its content.