Microsoft chases Apple's download crown

MSN Entertainment will be marketing a new music download strategy

Microsoft is threatening to take on Apple's dominance of the music download market by capitalising on its own strengths in the PC sector.

Arndt Salzburg, general manager at MSN Entertainment, confirmed that Microsoft will be marketing its music strategy around a seamless experience between the mobile and the PC using the Windows environment.

"We need to leverage PC-based users into the mobile world," he said. "User adoption is key and all the players are fighting for it. The user wants to pay for a seamless music experience between PC and mobile phone based on a single account."

The strategy is the reverse of Apple's, which was to use its popularity in the media player market to encourage people to buy its computers.

The most visible sign of this was the launch of the Mac Mini, which Apple admitted was designed to capitalise on the popularity of the iPod.

"Music is going to be a real growth area next year," said Mark Selby, vice president of rich media and music at Nokia. "There's money to be made by a lot of people."