Sony Reorganizes Struggling CONNECT Service

[Christopher]

ATRACLife reports on an interesting move by Sony regarding the Connect service -- it appears to be moving back to Japan amidst failure. The article goes on to note, "Analysts have said Sony has been hampered in part by the different goals of different divisions, such as the desire of the content companies to protect their music and movies from piracy, and the electronics division's stake in technologies such as the MiniDisc and the Memory Stick." Is this the end of Connect Player? Will Sonicstage be reincarnated?+++

Full text of article:

Sony said Friday that it will strengthen ties between its portable audio division and the struggling Connect digital music download unit, an iTunes rival launched in early 2004.

The Connect service was Sony's entry into the digital music market that was, and still is, dominated by Apple Computer's iTunes. However, since its launch, Connect has gained little traction with consumers, while Sony's portable audio players have been overshadowed by the explosive success of Apple's iPod.

The download unit, now renamed the Connect Business Division, will be placed officially under Hiroshi Yoshioka, who oversees the portable audio division. In that position, Yoshioka will be "best placed to reallocate resources and promote both the portable audio and content distribution business," a representative said in an e-mail.

Sony has felt Apple's rise in the portable audio business particularly keenly, given that it was its own Walkman line of products that essentially invented the space beginning in 1979.

Analysts have said Sony has been hampered in part by the different goals of different divisions, such as the desire of the content companies to protect their music and movies from piracy, and the electronics division's stake in technologies such as the MiniDisc and the Memory Stick.

Connect has long been expected to move into new types of content, such as video and downloadable games, and to play a more prominent role in the company's Net strategy. A first installment was announced early this month, in the form of a relationship with the new Starz Vongo video-on-demand service, which will be distributed by Sony.

The service will also begin selling downloadable eBooks, for customers of the company's new Portable Reader, Sony said at the recent Consumer Electronics Show.

Sony is still in the midst of a broad companywide reorganization aimed at improving communication across units, and turning around several years of seeing its products lose ground to rivals like the iPod.

[bobt]

Sounds like some positiveness, now to wait and see.

Bob

[ZosoIV]

I still maintain that Sony would be far more successful in the event that it spun off its media arm and refocused on consumer electronics, as in days of old. The multi-headed hydra that represents the present company is hopelessly twisted and complex, leading to obvious infighting between different divisions. Connect, Memory Stick, OpenMG, SonicStage, et al are frankly embarrassing products for a company once praised for its innovation and technical prowess.

Upon dumping the media wing, how about listening to consumers and giving them products that are pleasant to use? Sony's paranoid fixation with rights protection is why I've effectively banned MiniDisc, Connect, OMG, et al from ever interacting with my computer. I use MD in the same manner as I did 7 years ago: as a replacement for tapes in my home rig. MD still is the most convenient, editable consumer format ever devised. I wish Sony hadn’t “re-invented” MD as some half-assed imitation for an MP3 player and just focused on its obvious strengths as a recording format. Don’t people listen to music at home anymore?

Also, if the 5 free files I once obtained from Connect are any indication, they also need to reconsider sound quality; I'm not going to pay $10 for an album's worth of 132kbps ATRAC3 files that sound like transcoded Xing MP3's. Yes, Apple's rights-protected MPEG-4 files don't sound that great either, but Sony's are clearly the worst out of any EMD service I've ever tested. Catching up to do, indeed.

[viiv]

ATRACLife reports on an interesting move by Sony regarding the Connect service -- it appears to be moving back to Japan amidst failure. Is this the end of Connect Player? Will Sonicstage be reincarnated?

Is it just me or have I not read the article enough times, but can please I ask exactly what evidence in the article actually supports your statements?

Edited January 23, 2006 by finalcoolman

[Christopher]

That was my own personal addendum, from other information I've come across..heh.

[hobgoblin]

The download unit, now renamed the Connect Business Division, will be placed officially under Hiroshi Yoshioka, who oversees the portable audio division. In that position, Yoshioka will be "best placed to reallocate resources and promote both the portable audio and content distribution business," a representative said in an e-mail.

and lets watch the portable audio devices become more and more swamped by draconian DRM...

[lamewing]

And admist it all, the infamous iPod, will continue to dominate while the competetors fight amongst themselves. Heck, that is one of Apple's strenghts; they aren't fighting with themselves!

[Andicillo]

It seems as if it was impossible for Sony to Reorganise themselves...

What a lot of crap!!!

[Syrius]

and lets watch the portable audio devices become more and more swamped by draconian DRM...

Hold it. I think that means that someone who knows how the actual hardware units work, will be in charge of managing the software too. Which could be good, as now Sony's right hand and left hand will know what the other's doing.

[anont]

What is Sony thinking? Even if the service was just as good as iTunes, I can't see it being popular. Connect would have to be far and away better than iTunes to convince people to both purchase Sony music players, and start using the Sony Connect system.

(rest of post edited by kurisu -- please do not make personal insults towards other members)

[d3dude]

Don’t people listen to music at home anymore?

I thought I was the only one. Are you saying you do too?

[pauljones52]

For me nothing will replace actually owning music in a physical form. I would only consider buying music online if it was uncompressed and cheaper than a CD.

[hobgoblin]

Hold it. I think that means that someone who knows how the actual hardware units work, will be in charge of managing the software too. Which could be good, as now Sony's right hand and left hand will know what the other's doing.

fear the dark side, it have a bad habbit of corrupting anyone it gets in contact with...

ok so maybe im overly pesimistic. but a wise man hope for sun and dress for rain, or something like that. i dont belive it until i see it...

[Imagebboy]

I think that in order for sonys 'connect' to compete with apples 'itunes', it needs to go to a greater level. I mean they could go cheaper with downloads, and rasie the quality, but really, that wont bring the masses. What will bring the masses to the online store, is the product they are using to listen to.

So as people were saying, they need to devlop exciting walkmans, with quality and features that BLOW apples' mind. The masses want the 'it' item.

In 1979, it was Sonys walkman portable player. Something that, back then, was considered small, attractive, and had good quality. So they should make something super small, super attractive, good quality, and with incredible 'it' factor. These are all things the japanese excell at in manufacturing.

I agree that music is much better owned physicaly than just a bunch of downloads.

[ZosoIV]

For whatever reason, Apple's devices and music store seem to be a big hit with consumers, probably a combination of mass marketing, ease-of-use, and research. Sony could really compete with Apple if they came out with a LINE of devices (not just one) that offered significantly greater features, quality, or design than iPods, which IMO are very stripped-down and bland (I know, as I received a Nano as a gift). They need to come up with better software and DRM first, though!!!!

What ever happened to "like.no.other?" It's time for Sony to innovate again, not just copy Apple or try to steal their thunder.

edit: spelling.

Edited January 26, 2006 by ZosoIV

[SleepingInRlyeh]

I think the iPod is popular because it's easy to use (and a lot of great marketing on Apple's part). It's a great consumer electronics device. You plug it in, use easy-to-use iTunes software, and you're on your way.

Think back to pre-iPod where portable music, as it existed, meant you needed to open folders and drag-and-drop music, and then use some proprietary app, etc.

Sony was the ultimate consumer electronics company before. Sony stuff worked with almost anything, but it worked with other Sony stuff flawlessly. The early versions of SonicStage, to be blatantly honest, sucked. The wacky DRM didn't help either.

So now Sony has a tougher job - it has to extract Apple's market share which is fairly saturated. Now people are probably buying their 2nd, 3rd, or later portable music device, and if they had the iPod and liked it, they're probably going to buy the iPod again.

Sony can do it, but it's going to be hard, and harder still because Sony BMG is, well, a sociopathic paranoid entity.

In unrelated news, I just read that Sony cut their Aibo and other robot lines. Not a big surprise because that's low-hanging fruit; I'm wondering where the tougher cuts are going to be applied, though.

[hobgoblin]

err, i would say drag and drop is simpler then using itunes. i allready have a music folder with sorted subfolders. all i need to do is copy over the music i want to listen to.

ok, so its a bit harder to set up playlists. but last time i checked, my two fav drag and drop hardrive-based players supported playlists copyed from winamp

and itunes is a proprietary app, it only works with ipods...

apple managed with ipod to make it a fashion statement. i think that talks more about the crowd that apple normaly sells to, and their marketing department then anything about their device.

[tekdroid]

Think back to pre-iPod where portable music, as it existed, meant you needed to open folders and drag-and-drop music, and then use some proprietary app, etc.

like hobgoblin said, iTunes is as proprietary as it gets. Their DRM is proprietary, too. It's just less restrictive than Sony's and iTunes is what one might call 'tested' before going to market and 'reasonably easy to use'

But try taking songs off an iPod to copy it somewhere and see it's not so easy. You need a third-party (freeware) app to do it for you. Apple doesn't do it. Much like Sony doesn't. But Sony has more restrictions and hellish usability.

Drag-n-drop (copy/paste) - whatever you want to call it - like hobgoblin said, makes far more sense to me, too, if you just wanna put songs on without a music management app, that is. Anyone used to using any modern (and not-so-modern) operating system can do that, and I think portables should just be an extension of what we're used to on the OS.

Had a friend's 1GB LG USB audio thingy over a few weeks ago. Drag-n-drop. A miracle of usability next to SonicStage or iTunes (to me). Of course iTunes can rip discs and manage your collection but you can't beat copy/paste (drag-n-drop) if you ask me.

[nathantw666]

In unrelated news, I just read that Sony cut their Aibo and other robot lines. Not a big surprise because that's low-hanging fruit; I'm wondering where the tougher cuts are going to be applied, though.

OT: My son is dying to have one of those Aibo dogs. At $2k it just wasn't feasible. Perhaps when they're trying to get rid of stock I'd be able to pick one up. The Aibo was a fantastic toy but too pricey and certainly it wasn't anything that Sony really needed.

On the music front, I too think that Sony should get rid of the DRM in their software. Ever since Sony got that music division its been nothing but pain for us.