News

MSN Counters iTunes With Free Songs

By Ed Oswald | Published February 7, 2005, 12:14 PM

In an attempt to counter Apple iTunes' Pepsi song giveaway, Microsoft announced that its MSN Music service will give away one free song to U.S. customers from February 8 to 12 leading up to the Grammy Awards.

The free track will be the MSN Music team's choosing of what it believes is the top pick for pop, rock, rap/hip-hop, soul/R&B, or country, with a different genre highlighted each day.

"This is also an excellent opportunity for people to discover songs they might not have tried before - so pop fans can check out an outstanding country song, or rock fans can discover some of the year's best hip-hop," Rob Bennett, senior director of MSN Entertainment said.

The picks will come from the following categories: Feb. 8, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance/Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; Feb. 9, Best Rock Song; Feb. 10, Best Rap Song; Feb. 11, Best R&B Song; and Feb. 12, Best Country Song.

The MSN announcement follows Apple and Pepsi's second partnership to give away free tracks on the iTunes Music Store. Apple hopes to give away 200 million songs; however, unlike the MSN offering, users will be able to download any song of their choosing with a winning Pepsi bottle cap.

Comments

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sinesolis
Feb 8, 2005 - 9:37 AM

that is the stupidest damn thing i have heard yet...One day all music download services will adopt this practice and only let you download what they pick...

oh,wait...

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school1012
Feb 7, 2005 - 8:55 PM

Anything that brings me away from that terrable itunes..

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Erator
Feb 7, 2005 - 2:03 PM

When does this start with MSN's music service giveaway, and will new accounts be able to redeem these free songs?

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Pipewrench
Feb 7, 2005 - 12:27 PM

What a lame way to try to compete.

MSN music has no chance. iTunes is the best.

Later Microsoft.

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spiked
Feb 7, 2005 - 7:06 PM

I agree. I don't want to download the exact 5 same songs that MSN has picked for everyone else. That's such a joke about pop fans checking out a country song; if a pop fan doesn't already tune to country stations on his radio, then he's not going to download a country song, even if it's the only free song available on MSN that day.

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snoopy3216
Feb 7, 2005 - 9:07 PM

not lame at all, but for those who are true fans of good music in general will do just that, pop rock rap whatever it may be...free is free

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