Service Online music fans, get out your credit cards. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of deals to produce four major new online music sales operations. Industry analysts say the trend will benefit consumers by providing more of the online music they have grown accustomed to finding on Napster, which is supposed to become a membership-based service in July. Eventually, you're going to be able to hear what you want, when you want, where you want and on whatever device you want,'' said P.J. McNealy, an analyst with Gartner research.
Listeners buy songs by connecting to retailers.
In a similar move, multimedia company RealNetworks joined AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group to develop an online music subscription service called MusicNet. That megadeal is still in the works. With its 71 million users, Napster vividly demonstrated the demand for online music. But analysts say a few wrinkles need to be ironed out of the emerging commercial models if they hope to attract Napster-like numbers. Consumers typically shop by artist, not label, so sites that limit selection could confuse or alienate customers.