Music.com endorses Windows Media, disses MP3

Online retailer Music.com has chosen Windows Media Technologies as the "preferred format" for music distribution from its Web site, the companies announced Thursday. "Windows Media provides the mission-critical reliability and quality our users are demanding, and will help us become an indispensable online destination for all music lovers," Music.com senior VP Adam Somers predicted. The company cites a ZD Labs study which it claims "shows that audio files in the Windows Media format sound more like CD-quality audio in half the size of MP3". "With Windows Media, music comes out sounding the way it was meant to," Music.com board member Ted Cohen added. "People want an emotional experience with their music, not a technology experience, and the quality of Windows Media makes the technology transparent." The Register was unable to discover what effect on the future of the MP3 format the companies expect this announcement to have. ®