14 DAY TRIAL // What do you know, miracles do happen. Today's news says that Microsoft is ready to stream music to some 30 million of its regular XBL users, for FREE! "Microsoft" and "free" in the same sentence?" say Xbox 360 owners. Yes, it's true, and it's going to be a month-long promotion.
Users of Microsoft's XBL service are said to receive month-long promotions from the electronics giant, but also MSN users and users of Zune platforms, NextGeneration reports. "We don't want the same thing that is going out on MTV," Microsoft's director of music marketing Christina Calio said, commenting on the importance of exclusive content. And what is that supposed to mean? I didn't hear anyone complain. Did you?
UK band Maximo Park is said to be the first act to participate in the Ignition Program, as their debut will be available free of charge via Zune Marketplace. As for the video, that one too will also be available for free via Xbox Live Marketplace, but only when MSN users will have video-stream access.
Needless to say, Microsoft should have done this a long time ago, not that other similar services such as PlayStation Network (PS3) and the Wii's Virtual Console (with the Wii Shop Channel) are free of charge for users that download games and stuff. Anyway, since Microsoft isn't charging for music downloads via their Internet service for the Xbox 360, I guess a same response should be in order for its rivals, Sony and Nintendo, right?
Not really, you see, Microsoft's XBLA provides far more content for its users than the other two put together (not mentioning Sony's PlayStation Home of course - that one's not launched yet), so the company can afford it. But still, this kind of thing should have been done a long time ago, and not just for music.