Kazaa Digital Music Service Won’t Play Nice With Apple
March 8, 2011
The digital music marketplace has gotten a bit more crowded now that Kazaa is available on iOS devices. However, that doesn’t mean the company that once broke rules of its own will play along with those made by Apple.
Kazaa, once known as a playground for sharing illegal music, has gone legit and is now owned by Atrinsic, an online search marketing agency.
Recently, Atrinsic announced its online digital music subscription service is “accessible on iOS devices” simply by visiting Kazaa.com using mobile Safari.
In a clear shot at Apple, the company stated:
This exciting innovation allows Kazaa subscribers to immediately stream music via a broad range of wireless devices, and is especially significant in light of Apple’s recent announcement that it will now keep 30% of revenue generated by new subscriptions and media purchases made in an iPhone or iPad application through its App Store.Accessing Kazaa’s 1.6 million tracks is quite easy. Simply visit the Kazaa website on either your desktop or iDevice. From there you will be asked to signup for an account, which costs $9.99 per month for unlimited music. Customers can pay or charge their subscription to a credit card or mobile phone bill. One subscription is good across multiple platforms, including the desktop, iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. The service makes it easy to find new music, assign favorite songs, create playlists, and download ringtones for use on your iPhone. First, let me say Kazaa worked flawlessly on both my iPhone and iPad. The music is crisp and the site's interface is quite intuitive, regardless of the platform. However, because it works through the web (and not as an app) it has structural flaws. For one, there is no way to see a song's title or artist when the song is playing on an iPhone. Second, since it requires mobile Safari, the service cannot take advantage of iOS's background processing. This means Safari needs to be open to use the service. As such, Kazaa faces an uncertain future, especially with competition from Rdio, MOG, Rhapsody, and of course, from Apple's iTunes. What do you think? Leave your comments below.