Introducing Musica Digital

I'll keep it constructive.
Introducing Musica Digital, South Africa's first digital music store, which I discovered via Paul's own review.

First impressions last, and this was mine - a poorly designed page reading:

The site you have tried to enter requires Internet Explorer 6 (or better) with Windows Media Player 7 (or better) on Windows XP, 2000, Me or 98. Click Here to use our Doctor Download application to help you check your configuration alternatively Email Dr Download.

Right then. So we already know about the dangers of taking this Microsoft-centric approach; I won't go into that again. But what's this "Doctor Download" stuff? Can I trust it? I clicked on the ignorantly-named "Here" link and received a popup window with the following:

We're Sorry! There has been a problem that means you can't continue. The problem code is: 200501050143446657...

Truly helpful. Next, I decided to dig around behind the scenes using IE 6, their single browser of choice. Musica use frames (ack) to disguise the real URL of the site. It turns out that the entire service is provided and hosted by OD2: On Demand Distribution, who manage a diverse set of on-line retailers (I counted over 40). All of which are built with the same Microsoft-only requirements. In fact, they haven't even done a very good job of explaining the relationship between themselves and Musica on the site. If you browse the FAQ, under the "Who are we" section:

We are On Demand Distribution Plc, registered in England, No. 3935034

In other words, "we're not Musica". Isn't there something called client trust? Isn't it most important on this largely insecure, phishing-rife commerce medium we call the Internet? Questions Musica should be asking themselves. No mention is made by OD2 in their FAQ about their affiliation with Musica, so who are you really dealing with?

I should mention, as a side-note, that using frames will prevent their users from bookmarking favouriting a page - their favourite Artist, for example. Unless they're advanced enough (I wouldn't count on it) to know that right-clicking a link to that Artist and selecting "Add to Favourites.." is the only way they'll be able to shortcut to that page in future.

Another interesting observation: one of their PC Requirements is that you don't have any Popup Blockers installed. They claim that their site doesn't work without popups. Now that's rich.

I've e-mailed Musica (or is that OD2?) for an explanation on why their site is targetted at a Microsoft-only audience.

Favourite song of the moment: BT - Circles.

UPDATE [06/01]: allAfrica.com feature a December article on the store: 'Musica Joins Download Revolution', and mention how "This legal downloading of music might boost the already booming MP3 market". MP3, you say? The Musica Store only offers 128kbps WMA downloads.

Further reading:

• 'Loudeye Powers Its First Music Download Store in South Africa', via Yahoo! Financial News - 13 December, 2004
• 'SA gets large-scale music download site', via Mail and Guardian - 13 December, 2004
• 'SA: Download music for R10', via News24.com - 14 December, 2004