MSN Radio Implements Pay to Play

The phrase "nothing good comes for free" appears to be the latest motto coming out of Microsoft, which is turning another of its free content services into a fee-based offering.

This week, Microsoft's MSN online radio service is being stripped of its freebie status. The change of status for MSN radio follows similar changes for other MSN services. For example, MSN POP mail became a pay service more than a year ago. Microsoft has also begun charging fees for additional online storage for MSN Hotmail accounts.

Listener Options

Upon announcing its new Radio Plus, Microsoft said that it will offer listeners less of what they don't want in the MSN service.

Though Radio Plus users must pay $30 yearly for access to a variety of music, MSN said, listeners will be able to conduct Web-wide searches for the music they want. MSN Radio Plus lets subscribers search for music based on genre, artist, and other criteria.

Paying listeners will a couple of bonuses: freedom from ads, and smoother tunes. The buffering delay that precedes many free songs will disappear, according to MSN, as will audio advertisements and banner ads.

From Free to Fee

MSN is not the only Internet company seeking rewards from fee-based services.

In April, Yahoo reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations, and it attributes the results in part to its push for fee-based services. Yahoo has partnered with SBC for DSL and dial-up offerings, and it reports that those online fees brought in $63.7 million during the quarter.

Yahoo was among the first to begin charging for some services that had previously been part of a free Web-based e-mail service.

Both sites--and their competitors--have stepped up the number of add-ons and extra services that customers must pay a surcharge to obtain.