Verizon Joins Overpriced Mobile Music Bandwagon
Verizon Wireless today announced its plans for a mobile music service, making a slight change to the more standard straight-up overpriced plans of other carriers. Users can buy songs either from their PC or from their phone: buying from the PC costs 99 cents, and songs can then be transferred to the handset via a USB cable, while buying a song on the phone and downloading it over the air will cost $1.99. Verizon’s trying to play both sides of the fence — recognizing the 99-cent market price for downloads, while still trying to eke out a premium for people that need to buy music when they’re not near a computer. Verizon seems to have some understanding that people won’t buy separate music just for their phones, since they’ll let users (Windows XP users, anyway) put music they already own onto their handsets, and their use of Microsoft’s DRM should allow for interoperability with other devices, and even other music stores. With so many other purchase options, it’s hard to imagine many people will use the over-the-air service when they can get the same song at home for a dollar cheaper.
