Here’s a new market, via digital audio insider, I’ll bet those underperforming Arb Hedge Funds have yet to discover: Arbing MP3s from eMusic to ITMS buyers:
"In theory, a 40-downloads-a-month eMusic subscriber is paying just under 25 cents a track, so selling one of those downloads to a non-subscriber for 75 cents yields a healthy return. For the buyer, it’s cheaper than a single download from iTunes, plus the eMusic download is an mp3 that can be played on virtually any portable player, with no DRM to hamper the file. And you can get your eMusic cost-per-track down to around 22 cents by opting for a 90-a-month plan or pre-paying for a year with eMusic."
Voila! Free money for the arbs!
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Source:
Download Arbitrage with eMusic
digital audio insider
Monday, May 15, 2006
http://digitalaudioinsider.blogspot.com/2006/05/download-arbitrage-with-emusic.html
Barry, you’re killing me. Snow’s out and Paulson’s in and you’re talking music downloads. What’s the Ritholtz view on the new treasury secretary?
blah blah blah — I have nothing original to add to allt he chatter — which quite frankly, is irrelevant to the markets.
Do you think the Treasury Secretary is going to have an impact on all the macro forces building up pressure?
other non-sensical music pricing. the new chili peppers album on a double cd at best buy $14.99 w/ no limitations, while selling on i-tunes for $19.90 w/ limitations. why? why? why?
Resale of MP3 tracks is – um – illegal. Oh, sorry. Am I diluting your beer? Well, at least I used liquid of the same color.
Tom
Is there something special about MP3s? By that logic, are you suggesting that every garage sale of old CDs are “illegal” too? Maybe shorting Ebay because their entire model is based upon illegal transactions is something to consider or not. At a minimum, somebody should notify Christoper Cox or Elliot Spitzer.
regards
Perry Mason
Tom’s right — the eMusic subscription agreement does prohibit the sale or distribution of the files. (I assume there’s a similar thing for iTunes and the other download stores.) The full post at Digital Audio Insider mentions this detail, though.
Yeah, the DRM is horrible. I haven’t checked out eMusic and am too lazy to coordinate sharing or selling to anyone else. But I’m going to check it out.
As far as the new Treasury Secretary… Who cares at this point? Bush’s term is just going to wind down over the next 3 years. He probably could’ve just left the post vacant and NOONE would’ve noticed.