GoodThings2Life,
I agree with your take on subscription music. I left subscription when Yahoo left me, but now will probably go back (just wish there were a smaller, easier-to-tote, high-capacity Zune).

Some typo corrections state your case better:

It’s $.0025 per song per month, i.e., 1/4 of a cent, not 25 cents. 1500 cents / 6000 songs

And “I’ve got 6190 songs that I am no longer renting…” I think you meant to say that you are now renting 6190 songs but at a lower rate, 1/3 the rate of before, i.e., 1/12 of a cent per song per month.

I don’t really see how subscription music is a niche market… people have access to a practically unlimited amount of content for $15/month… rather than $15 for 15 songs. In fact, the more you download the more beneficial it becomes. I have 6200 songs right now. That prices out to less than 25-cents per song per month, but under the new model, I download and keep 10 songs (a $10 value) which brings my subscription to $5/month, which means I’ve got 6190 songs that I am no longer renting but am only renting for $5/month, so that’s just pennies.

What’s more, they’ve already committed to expanding to the Windows Mobile platform, and if they integrate Xbox Live Marketplace and Zune Marketplace, as well as Windows Mobile, that’s a very very large market of users with an incredible amount of content.

I agree it’s a good competitive move for them, but I think they’re competing in a declining market. With the iPhone and its music phone competitors growing in popularity, I think these types of music subscriptions, not to mention dedicated music players, are heading for the niche market.

This is great, but I wish they’d update it so I could use my Zune Pass for video downloads too.