Microsoft launches rival to iTunes: interoperability tops agenda, as Microsoft embraces partners for new download platform.(Downloads)

In many respects the launch of MSN Music--Microsoft's long-awaited challenge to iTunes--seemed a strangely muted affair.

Much of this could be attributed to headlines elsewhere. As Bill Gates introduced the new service in Los Angeles last month with an offer of exclusive content from AC/DC and Queen Latifah, Apple's Steve Jobs was unveiling a series of impressive statistics: third quarter profits of 59m [pounds sterling], the 150 millionth download through iTunes and a 500% increase in iPod sales compared with the same period last year--and all to the brash fanfare of a U2-soundtracked ad campaign.

The perception was one of role-reversal with Microsoft appearing to act like a company a fraction of the size. Rather than the expected huge splash, it literally seemed to slip into the water. Nevertheless, it remains a question of time before MSN become a significant player in the digital music market.

On the face of it there seems little radically new about the US MSN store, which also launched in 10 European countries including the UK. The front end will certainly look familiar to anyone who has used the OD2-platformed MSN Music Club that has operational in the UK since May 2002.

The now typical download retailer traits are also all present and correct: individual tracks priced at $0.99; full albums at $9.90 and a selection of 600,000 tracks rising to 1m in the near future. The service will run directly through Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 or through a web interface which can only be bought by using the Windows version of Internet Explorer.

Initial reviews, such as Rob Pegoraro's in the Washington Post, have been warm, although most commented that MSN does not yet surpass the iTunes blueprint. "For this store to start winning market share from iTunes, Microsoft has more work to do," said Pegoraro.

Yet, aside from a difference in sound quality (Window Media Audio files are encoded with a "variable bit rate" of around 160 kilobits per second, compared to 128 kilobits per second over at iTunes) the main draws--and the ones on which Microsoft seems to be basing its marketing strategy--are flexibility and integration.