MSN Music beta review

MSN Music website

Screenshot of MSN Music website
beta.music.msn.com Site up since September 2004

I've got no actual stats but I guess it's safe to say the catalog at MSN Music is big. They currently sell to USA and selected countries only.

This is Microsoft so the available format is of course WMA, encoded at 160 Kbps. Sounds not-good-enough to me but I'm not an expert in WMA compression.

Format Quality Price
WMA 160 Kbps Most tracks cost $0.99 and most albums $9.99

Previews are in WMA I think, on OS X the site didn't even give me a chance to try listening but redirected me to System Requirements page.

The MSN Music site is very clean and easy to use and is (or will be?) available through the Windows Media Player 10, just like iTunes.