Memory chipmaker SanDisk with partner record labels EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group announced today their latest idea of CD replacement, the slotMusic.
SlotMusic is basically a MicroSD memory card that will come preloaded with music albums from the participating record labels and is mainly aimed at mobile phones that come with a MicroSD slot.
Though the fingernail-size album might seem as a good idea, here's why SlotMusic is likely to make no difference in the market.
1. It Aims at a Crowded Market
Millions of mobile phones out there come with a MicroSD slot and most are Nokia phones. Last month Nokia announced that offers free unlimited downloads with the purchase of a handset--so there is little chance that anyone with this service will actually pay extra for an album on a memory card. As for the other phones on the market, it is highly unlikely as well that someone will carry 10 MicroSD memory cards with them and swap them around just to listen to an album on their phone, when one single memory card can hold most of their music collection.
2. Downloads Beat Physical Purchase
Each SlotMusic card will come with an adapter so a customer can plug it into the USB port of a PC and transfer the DRM-free MP3s onto the computer. Again, why would anyone bother to go to the shop and buy the card, come back home, connect it to a computer and transfer the music when you can buy a whole album with just one click from providers such as iTunes MusicStore?
3. Not Enough Diversity
SlotMusic will be available in mid-October from retailers such as BestBuy and WallMart for around $10 per album. The only problem is that initially only 29 popular albums will be available (no exclusives): Most fans likely have already downloaded or bought the CDs.
4. Size Does Matter
A microSD memory card measures only about half the size of a standard postage stamp (0.6 -by-0.4-inch) so it will be quite easy to lose around the house, while the reduced size might turn some more traditional users off. If you already can't find your CDs around the house, imagine the trouble you would have finding a thumbnail-sized SlotMusic.
Also, if you plan on nicely categorizing your SlotMusic cards, it might prove to be quite difficult as the cases are too small to actually contain cover art or any form of identification on their side (as CDs and DVDs do).
5. Scarce Compatibility
CDs have been around long enough that we have plenty of devices that play them. Only if the SlotMusic format really takes off will we see more devices capable of reading MicroSD cards. Meanwhile, only high-end car audio and DVD players come with an USB port that lets you plug in and listen to SlotMusic. For cars, there are workarounds such as playing the music over Bluetooth from your phone, but again, but this feature comes only in high-spec models, so users will have quite a bit of hassle to just listen to their music.
And with tens of millions of iPods out there, all carefully linked to Apple's iTunes Music store with a massive collection of music, SlotMusic has very low chances to succeed in the mobile phone market either, where other big players such as Nokia paved the way. Nothing really new or innovative come with SlotMusic and only a small market gap is left for it, so its success is yet to be seen when it will get launched in October.
