Virgin Digital has had enough of trying to compete against Apple’s iTunes. I wonder how they felt about their PlaysForSure partner Microsoft, now competing against them. I guess the writing was on the wall. Virgin is calling it quits and has contacted their subscribers asking them to switch to Napster offering them a free MP3 player and three free months of the Napster To Go subscription service (a $44.85 value), as an incentive.

Since Napster is also a PlaysForSure Microsoft partner, Virgin Digital subscribers who already own compatible MP3 players will be able to continue to use Napster’s service. At least this is better than what MSN Music did to its subscribers when the Zune was introduced. I do wonder how long Napster will be around as I watch their stock continue to slide. Microsoft has done more damage to its PlaysForSure partners than Apple. Microsoft has not even made a showing against the iPod/iTunes platform.

Paying Microsoft for the PlaysForSure technology for these online music stores has had to be tough while they try to compete against Apple. Trying to convince consumers to use their services has not been easy. Subscription services of music has not proved to be a successful model against the iPod and iTunes. The last straw for some of these online stores has had to be watching your partner Microsoft now compete against them directly with the Zune with an incompaible DRM (digital rights management) technology. This leaves little in the way of incentive to stay in the game and bleed money. If Apple moves to add a subscription model it will be even harder for these online stores to stay a float.

The latest victim of Apple’s iTunes and Microsoft’s entry of the competing Zune is Virgin Digital. They will join MSN Music and Real’s Rhapsody (who now spins their own DRM). Napster has been looking for a buyer for some time now as reported on several websites.

The number two online music store is eMusic. Although, a distant number two behind iTunes, they sell MP3s without any DRM (digital rights management). Instead of competing against the iPod, they claim that the iPod has helped them find customers.

By the way on the video download front GUBA has put itself for sale. iTunes with help from Google strikes again?

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