Sony reinvents Connect music service

Just as plug is pulled on original

28 March 2008 17:41 GMT / By Katie Scott

Connect may have not been the big money spinner it wanted, but Sony BMG is not giving up on the music download business.

According to The Register, Sony CEO Rolf has launched what bloggers are calling "Son of Connect" - a new service that will give access to the label's catalogue for €6-8 a month.

He added that if a subscriber quits the service, they will still be able to keep some of their music; and added that tunes will play on non-Sony devices.

But no other labels have confirmed their involvement yet, which has bloggers predicting yet another failure.

After all, it follows Sony's first wholesale digital store, which was called PressPlay.

The Register explains that this venture failed because the catalogue was too limited, that there were too many DRM restrictions, and also actually buying the music was a very complicated process.

Next up was Connect, which only supported Sony's ATRAC players, which at the time of the launch, didn't support MP3s.

And the tunes you bought could only be transferred onto a portable player three times.

The switch gets pulled on the original Connect service on 31 March, but we'll keep you posted on its predecessor.