Playing Catch-Up

With no small amount of amusement, I read the notice that Microsoft was getting into the music store business next year to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store. Their partner, to give them the cred they needed to roll? MTV. The same network that has played a total of six music videos in their entirety in the last 12 months.

Here's the sentence, buried in the release about Urge, that really had me howling:

According to MTV Network Spokesperson Jeannie Kedas, Urge will offer a much wider range of music to choose from than can be found on its traditional cable offerings, with a stated goal of helping its users discover new music.

Well, thank Jebus, because no one will ever find out about a new band by watching MTV these days!

The real kicker is that, like every other failing digital music service out there, Urge will use a subscription-based model. Oh, yeah, and there'll be no way to pop the Urge music onto your iPod. Good luck with all that.