The CONNECT Music Store was Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

's music store built within the SonicStage

SonicStage

SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC...

 music management application for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

-based personal computers. It was one of the world’s largest online music download stores with over 2.5 million tracks to preview and purchase, with over 10,000 new songs added every Tuesday. The CONNECT Music Store closed in North America and Europe on the 31st March 2008, and the website has been unavailable from 1 March 2008.

However in late 2008, Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 launched a new online music store

Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...

 called "Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm is an online music store owned by the Sony corporation. As of August 2011, Bandit.fm is only available to customers in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore.-History:...

" on a trial basis in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm is an online music store owned by the Sony corporation. As of August 2011, Bandit.fm is only available to customers in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore.-History:...

 has been considerably more successful and although unconfirmed, it is widely expected that Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 will launch Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm

Bandit.fm is an online music store owned by the Sony corporation. As of August 2011, Bandit.fm is only available to customers in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore.-History:...

 globally in the medium-term future, pending the results of the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n/New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 trial.

"Sony Connect" was also the name given to the software used to managed book, music and image content on the Sony Reader

Sony Reader

The Sony Reader is a line of e-book readers manufactured by Sony. It uses an electronic paper display developed by E Ink Corporation, is viewable in direct sunlight, requires no power to maintain a static image, and is usable in portrait or landscape orientation.Sony sells e-books for the Reader...

; it has since been renamed Sony eBook Library

Sony eBook Library

Sony Reader Library is iTunes-like software used to manage book, music and image content on the Sony Reader. It enables purchases from The Reader Store from Sony.-External links:* *...

.

The SonicStage

SonicStage

SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC...

 software transferred music tracks to Sony media devices like Network Walkman, CD Walkman, Hi-MD, PSP

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

 (via the Memory Stick), Clie handheld or VAIO computer, but did not transfer to non-Sony hardware.
Although the CONNECT music store was available on the World Wide Web, music can only be accessed with CONNECT Player

Connect Player

CONNECT Player is a media player application, developed by Sony Connect, a division of Sony Corporation of America in 2005. It was released for European and Japanese market in November 2005 to be used with Sony's new HDD digital music players - the NW-A Walkman Series.In January 2006, Sony Europe...

 or SonicStage

SonicStage

SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC...

 installed.

Sony Japan announced a total revision of the player software, now known simply as "CONNECT Player

Connect Player

CONNECT Player is a media player application, developed by Sony Connect, a division of Sony Corporation of America in 2005. It was released for European and Japanese market in November 2005 to be used with Sony's new HDD digital music players - the NW-A Walkman Series.In January 2006, Sony Europe...

." It was expected to debut in the United States sometime in quarter one of 2006. However, its release in Japan and Europe in November 2005 led to thousands of complaints about the CONNECT Player's performance. Eventually Sony Europe advised its users in January 2006 to abandon CONNECT in favour of SonicStage.

On 25 May 2006, the CONNECT division released SonicStage CP 4.0, which is SonicStage with support for features like intelligent shuffle and Artist Link.

Sony CONNECT Video was a division within Sony CONNECT developing digital service platforms to enable distribution of next-generation entertainment to Sony devices.

One such digital service platform is a promotional video service accessible from the World Wide Web offering thousands of free video downloads. Users can download video content directly to their device wirelessly or by means of using the USB port and their computer.

Sony CONNECT Inc. was created by Sony Executive Vice President Jay Samit

Jay Samit

Jay Samit is a digital media innovator who has pioneered advancements in music and video distribution, social media, and ecommerce. He is currently the CEO of SocialVibe.- Jasmine Multimedia Publishing :...

 and is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America

Sony Corporation of America

Sony Corporation of America , based in New York, is the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. It is the umbrella company under which all Sony companies operate in the United States....

.

CONNECT Sets

One of the CONNECT Music Store’s exclusive features was CONNECT Sets, a series of intimate and often acoustic musical performances by a wide array of recording artists from popular to emerging. Over 350 live concert and in-studio sessions were produced by music producer Robert Shahnazarian (Feudal Productions).

Notable Artists Who Have Recorded CONNECT Sets:
Angelique Kidjo

Angélique Kidjo

Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...

, Augustana

Augustana (band)

Augustana is an American rock band from San Diego, California who are signed to the Epic Records record label. They are best known for their singles, "Boston" and "Sweet and Low."-Beginning years:...

, All-American Rejects, All Time Low

All Time Low

All Time Low is an American pop punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2003.The band consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alexander Gaskarth, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Jack Barakat, bassist and backing vocalist Zachary Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson...

, Amber Pacific

Amber Pacific

Amber Pacific is an American band that formed in 2002 in Federal Way, Washington. The band has released three full length albums thus far, The Possibility and the Promise in 2005, Truth in Sincerity in 2007, and Virtues in 2010....

, Amos Lee

Amos Lee

Amos Lee is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. Lee has four albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele. In...

, Anberlin

Anberlin

Anberlin is an American rock band formed in Winter Haven, Florida in 2002. Since the beginning of 2007, the band has consisted of lead vocalist Stephen Christian, guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Deon Rexroat, and drummer Nathan Young.Members of Anberlin originally formed...

, Andy Bell

Andy Bell

Andy Bell may refer to:*Andy Bell , British professional boxer*Andy Bell , English footballer*Andy Bell , English footballer*Andy Bell *Andy Bell...

, Anna Nalick

Anna Nalick

Anna Christine Nalick is an American singer-songwriter. Her debut album, Wreck of the Day, featuring her first radio hit, "Breathe ", was released on April 19, 2005. Nalick left her label under Sony in 2009 after a falling-out surrounding the release of her second album...

, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T...

, Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile is an American singer and songwriter.-Early life:At age eight, Carlile performed a rendition of the country music song "Tennessee Flat Top Box" with her mother. She began to play the guitar and write songs at fifteen. At sixteen, she began to perform as a backup singer for an Elvis...

, Chris Tomlin

Chris Tomlin

Christopher Dwayne "Chris" Tomlin is an American Christian Contemporary Music artist, worship leader, and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States. He is a former staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is signed to EMI's sixstepsrecords. Tomlin also leads worship at many...

, Copeland

Copeland

- Places :Canada* Copeland Islands * Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park, in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia* Mount Copeland, also Copeland Ridge and Copeland Creek in same vicinity, in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia...

, Crosby and Nash, Dead City Sunday, The Derailers

The Derailers

The Derailers are an American country music band based in Austin, Texas. They were founded by Portland, Oregon natives Tony Villanueva and Brian Hofeldt in 1994.-History:...

, DMC

DMC

-Computer Science or IT:*Diffusion Monte Carlo, a method that utilizes a Green function to solve the Schrödinger equation*Dynamic Markov Compression, a general purpose statistical data compression algorithm...

, Dredg

Dredg

Dredg is an American rock group formed in 1993 in Los Gatos, California. The band consists of vocalist Gavin Hayes, guitarist Mark Engles, bassist Drew Roulette and drummer Dino Campanella....

, Earl Greyhound

Earl Greyhound

Earl Greyhound is an American rock trio from Brooklyn consisting of Matt Whyte , Kamara Thomas and Ricc Sheridan . Sheridan replaced original drummer Christopher Bear just after the band recorded its first full-length album. They were previously signed to Some Records but have since started their...

, Editors

Editors

Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...

, Eisley

Eisley

Eisley is a rock band from Tyler, Texas, consisting of four siblings and their cousin , all of whom were born and live in Texas. Although the band's name translates to ice island in several Germanic languages, it was actually selected by the bandmates because of its link to the Star Wars saga...

, Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-descendant band from Los Angeles, California, that is currently signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.-Early years:...

, Giant Drag

Giant Drag

Giant Drag is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formerly a duo, the band was founded in 2003 by Annie Hardy who continues to be the band's sole singer and songwriter....

, Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring.Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music...

, Hanson

Hanson (band)

Hanson are an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by brothers Isaac , Taylor , and Zac Hanson . They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations...

, Hawk Nelson

Hawk Nelson

Hawk Nelson is a Christian rock band from Peterborough, Ontario. The band has become very popular in the Christian music scene and was voted "Favorite New Artist" by CCM Magazine in their February 2006 Reader's Choice Awards. In 2006 Hawk Nelson won a No...

, Hidden In Plain View

Hidden in Plain View

Hidden in Plain View was a five-piece Pop Punk band from northern New Jersey. They formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2007. During their six and a half year run, the group released records with four different record labels , including two full-length albums and three EPs...

, Hinder

Hinder

Hinder is an American rock band from Oklahoma that was formed in 2001 by drummer Cody Hanson, guitarist Joe Garvey, and singer Austin Winkler. The band was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2007.-Formation and early history:...

, Joe Nichols, John Legend

John Legend

John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell

Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...

, Kasabian, Keane, Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...

, Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...

, Meg & Dia

Meg & Dia

Meg & Dia is an American rock band formed in 2004. It was founded by sisters Meg and Dia Frampton, and is now a five-piece act with additional members Nicholas Price, Jonathan Snyder and Carlo Gimenez....

, McFly

McFly

McFly are an English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher , Danny Jones , Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd . They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records...

, Phantom Planet

Phantom Planet

Phantom Planet are an American alternative rock band from Southern California. Formed in 1994 in Los Angeles, the band consists of Alex Greenwald , Darren Robinson , Sam Farrar and Jeff Conrad . The band is best known for its track "California", which became the theme song for the Fox TV series,...

, Rachael Yamagata

Rachael Yamagata

Rachael Yamagata is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing four EP's and three studio albums...

, Red

Red (band)

Red is an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band's lineup consists of singer Michael Barnes, guitarist Anthony Armstrong, bassist Randy Armstrong and drummer Joe Rickard. They are known for their Christian rock music which incorporates other sounds such as...

, Simon Dawes

Simon Dawes

Simon Dawes was a rock band originally from Malibu, California. The band was signed with Record Collection and released their debut full-length, Carnivore, in September 2006. They have two previously released EPs. Blake Mills left the band shortly after Carnivore's release. The band's current...

, Slum Village

Slum Village

Slum Village was a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla . J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records...

, Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...

, Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

, Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin . Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write songs.-History:...

, Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

, Ted Leo

Ted Leo

Theodore F. Leo , called "Ted," as a short form of "Theodore," is an American punk rock/indie rock songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, though he is most known for his singing and guitar playing...

, Terron Brooks

Terron Brooks

Terron Brooks is an African American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of R&B/pop singer Eddie Kendricks in the 1998 NBC miniseries The Temptations.-Biography:...

, Thavius Beck

Thavius Beck

Thavius Beck is an electronic musician, producer, MC, saxophone/bass guitar player, and a certified trainer of Ableton Live. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.-Work:...

, The Decemberists

The Decemberists

The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...

, The Killers, The Oohlas

The Oohlas

-History:The Oohlas consist of Olivia Stone , Mark Eklund , Hayden Scott and Greg Eklund . Stone moved to Los Angeles from Phoenix and met met Mark, who was working for Stone's aunt. Mark introduced her to Greg, who had recently left Everclear...

, Toby Lightman

Toby Lightman

Toby Lightman is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Little Things, was released in 2004 on Lava/Atlantic. Her second album, Bird on a Wire was released in 2006. During her career, she has toured and performed with bands such as OAR, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Prince, and...

, Train

Train (band)

Train is an American pop rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1994. The band currently comprises a core trio of Patrick Monahan , Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood ....

, Van Hunt

Van Hunt

Van Hunt is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, Van Hunt, in 2004, and a follow-up, On the Jungle Floor, in 2006, both on Capitol Records...

, and We Are Scientists

We Are Scientists

We Are Scientists is a New York-based indie rock band that formed in Berkeley, California in 2000. Originally formed of Keith Murray on drums, Chris Cain playing bass guitar and Scott Lamb providing vocals and guitar, before Michael Tapper became drummer and Keith became vocalist and guitarist...

.

Compatibility

The CONNECT Music Store was only accessible via Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

 on computers running the Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 operating system.

Files downloaded from the CONNECT Music Store are encrypted using Sony's Digital Rights Management

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

, in the OpenMG

OpenMG

OpenMG is a SDMI-compliant digital rights management system by Sony. It is designed for audio files in ATRAC3 format. The compliant software, eg. Sony SonicStage, is usually capable of transcoding MP3 and wav files to OpenMG/ATRAC3...

 (*.omg & *.oma) file format. Audio content is encrypted using an OpenMG compliant program — SonicStage

SonicStage

SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC...

 — and stored on a computer's hard disk for playback or transfer to a Sony media device. The file format is ATRAC

ATRAC

Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...

3, Sony's proprietary compressed music format.

Sony claims that ATRAC3 has superior sound quality when compared to competing encoding formats, although this is disputed.

End User Rights

Music sold at Sony CONNECT could be downloaded on up to 5 PC's that are authorized at any given time All music purchased may be re-downloaded at any given time (until the service shut down in 2008)

All music, with the exception of Warner Music Group, allow Sony device exportation an UNLIMITED number of times.

Music purchased from Warner Music Group may only be exported 3 times to Minidisc & Memory Stick.

All music, with the exception of Universal Music Group, may be burned to ATRAC CD's ONLY 5 times.

Music purchased from Universal Music Group may NOT be burned to an ATRAC CD.

All music from Sony CONNECT may be burned into Redbook format 7 Playlist Times.

All Music exported to Sony Network Walkmans that are authorized (meaning only flash & HDD based players) with CONNECT can be exported an UNLIMITED number of times. Meaning Warner Music Group content can be exported an unlimited number of times on these devices without using your 3 export rights.
Memory Sticks & Minidiscs are not authorizable, thus utilize your 3 Warner Music Group export rights.