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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Sony to unplug Connect music service

Associated Press:

Acknowledging its proprietary audio technology was a marketplace flop, Sony Corp. is shuttering its Connect digital music store and will open its portable media players to other formats.

The moves were announced Thursday at a Berlin consumer electronics trade fair as the Japanese electronics pioneer unveiled a pair of new digital Walkmans that can play the Windows Media Audio, MP3 and AAC audio formats.

Sony said it would phase out operations of its struggling Connect online store, which sold songs in the company's proprietary ATRAC format.

"This gives customers greater flexibility in their music software approach," the company said in a statement. "As a result, Sony will be phasing out the Connect Music Services based on Sony's ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe."

And another one bites the dust, in this case not a moment too soon. It's bad enough that Sony went with a format--ATRAC--that no one supported, but its own devices were generally woefully bad. And it's interesting to see someone jumping on board PlaysForSure amid all the recent bad news about that platform.

Labels: Digital media, iTunes, Zune

[ Posted at 12:56 PM | Permalink ]