Another online music store
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Another online music store
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SCOTT JAGOW: Best Buy launches its own song downloading site this weekend. It’s teaming up with SanDisk, that other company that makes MP3 players. So does Apple have anything to worry about? Here’s Ashley Milne-Tyte.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Well, for one thing SanDisk’s share of the market grew 300 percent last quarter.
OK, so it still has just 10 percent of MP3 player sales compared to Apple’s 70 percent, but technology analyst Rob Enderle says it was a wise move to hook up with music software company Real Networks . . .
ROB ENDERLE: . . . who’s arguably providing the strongest third party music service, and now they tie in Best Buy who is kind of the retailer to beat in the segment, it provides a relatively powerful triumvirate of brands.
Enderle says it’s not a question of the SanDisk/Best Buy venture trying to beat iTunes, it’s more about making some good money using APPLE’S model.
He says part of what fueled the growth of the iPod was consumers going after something unique, but now that so many people have one, he says, consumers are starting to think different.
And that could make some room for the rivals.
In New York I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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