Legal UK P2P service Wippit shuts down

[zatoicchi]

Wippit, a UK-based P2P service that sold music through subscription packages, has finally shut its doors. A company spokesperson told the Distorted Loop blog that Wippit "succumbed to tough market conditions" and eventually became a victim of its own vision and optimism.

pic oh wippit shut down notice

I'd suspect that the absence of a clear value proposition for end users might have something to do with the failure as well. Wippit originally marketed itself as a legal alternative to file sharing networks like Napster, but always had a far to little catalog to compete.

It tried to change this by moving more towards the model of a centralized download store, even selling music from EMI, but those tracks were DRM-protected and couldn't be swapped. It also experimented with home-made ringtones and apparently even had a limited number of video downloads. I reviewed the service early on, but found it confusing and too limited.

http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-840.html

[anon]

Wippit ...always had a far to little catalog to compete.

It tried to change this by ... selling music from EMI, but those tracks were DRM-protected and couldn't be swapped.

If that's all they had to offer I'm surprised they even lasted for 8 years... people who actually pay for tracks would expect to at least be able to listen to them in any device, and not just those that are support DRM.