Dell favors subscription model for Digital Music to compete against Apple

It is not only Sony, which is gunning for the glory that Apple has achieved in the digital music market with their iPod and iTunes products. Dell is another biggie in the hunt for some market share and they have until now had little success in their quest. And they are going the same way as Napster in their mission. Dell thinks subscription based model for music downloads is going to be the key in getting successful.

Napster the original granddaddy of the Music Sharing genre also got into similar services with their TO GO offering. They actually went mega with that launch with an advertising budget of around USD 30 million. In fact, Napster was one of the companies to advertise during the famous Super Bowl.

Dell itself is now starting to think about throwing its weight behind subscription music services as an alternative to the iTunes model of selling songs. They hope to sell more of their own digital music players through this strategy. Their latest releases support the “all-you-can-eat” subscription services and plans to compete heads on with iPod.

They would also soon be supporting Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM 10 software in its Dell DJ music players, which would let it support the Napster subscription service. Subscription service differs from iTunes model in a way that it gives user access to a large number of sound tracks for a fixed sum per month. If the subscription ends, the user no longer can play the songs on his device. iTunes on the other hand sell songs at around 99 cents per song, which are in the end owned by the user for life.

Napster charges USD 14.95 a month for their subscription services.