Samsung Not Entering Online Music Business

Monday, October 31st 2005, 10:41 am

By: News On 6

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ Contrary to reports last week, Samsung Electronics Co. has no plans to enter the online music business with a system similar to Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service, an executive said Thursday.

``We are not interested at all in a music service ourselves,'' Choi Gee-sung, president of Samsung's digital media business, told reporters.

South Korean media earlier this week quoted Choi as saying the company planned such a service, remarks later confirmed by the company.

Choi on Thursday said there had been ``some misunderstanding'' of comments he made to Korean reporters late last week.

He said rather than go into the online music business itself, Samsung wants to work to help those whose software is harder to use than iTunes to develop platforms that make services easier and more attractive to customers.

Apple dominates the online music business with its hot-selling iPod digital music player and iTunes service, which allows users to pay for songs and download them. The company introduced a new video iPod in October that is capable of playing everything from TV shows to music videos.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. and others have struggled to match Apple's success with its iPod player and music service.