Apple Backtracks, Warner Music Sues Songbeat, Wii Music Sells Poorly

Songs downloaded from Apple iTunes Plus don’t work on all mp3 players, Wii Music tanks in sales, and Warner Music files suit against handy music app Songbeat, here’s todays tech news:

• After Apple said songs sold via its music service would be compatible with all MP3 players, not just the iPod, numerous complaints have arisen due to the fact that downloads from eMusic, Amazon and iTunes are failing to play on other devices. Because there are different types of unprotected music files, Windows Media Player won’t play songs while the Zune will, and the ACC format promoted by Apple doesn’t work on a variety of other players from manufacturers like Creative and Sansa. By not stating what tracks will work and where, Apple is giving consumers reason to buy music somewhere else. [Chicago Tribune]
• Nintendo President Satoru Iwata admits that Wii Music sales are subpar: “I agree that Wii Music, as of now, has not achieved its true potential.” While not revealing any concrete sales figures, Iwata conceded that the Japan market had simply not responded in the desired fashion: “So, what happened at the end of last year in Japan was simply that it did not go as we had planned.” The company does not consider the title a failure however, and will continue to support its sales by communicating with consumers more efficiently. [Kotaku]

• Warner Music has filed a lawsuit against Songbeat, a simple desktop application for playing and discovering music on the Internet. The app basically lets you use a search engine for mp3’s on the web, scouting out songs in services such as Seeqpod, Project Playlist, SpoolFM, iASK, and streaming the tracks on your desktop. Of course, Warner won’t have it and is seeking confrontation, but on the other hand, Philip Eggersgluess, CEO of Songbeat, says the service is perfectly legal in Germany. [Washington Post]

Photo via Kotaku