mora (モーラ, mōra) is an online music and video store for the Japanese market operated by Sony Music Solutions, a part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ).[1] It is integrated into the Japanese version of Sony's Music Center for PC software, and was also integrated into its predecessors such as SonicStage. It is now the official store for their Walkman devices.
History
editWhen Sony released its NW-MS7 Memory Stick compatible digital Walkman player, Sony Music Entertainment Japan started offering digital music through a store called bitmusic in December 1999. Bitmusic was merged into mora in July 2007.[2]
In 2000, Label Gate Co., Ltd. was formed, a joint venture of 17 Japanese record companies including Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Avex Group, and Universal Music Japan, which would then operate the bitmusic store.[3]
The mora store was launched on April 1, 2004. At this time Label Gate was funded by 18 companies while 29 record labels were participant.[4] Originally, music purchased from mora was exclusively in Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 format with OpenMG DRM. A partner store called mora win (モーラ ウィン, mōra win) was also in operation, using Windows Media Audio (WMA) codec and Windows Media DRM encryption, and integrated into the Japanese version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11 as the "recommended store" in Japan.[5]
On October 1, 2012, mora underwent a rehaul into a DRM free store, selling songs and music videos in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) formats.[6] The mora win service was also eliminated in the restructuring, with the DRM free store being integrated into the Media Go service in Windows 8. One year later on October 17, 2013, mora began offering songs and albums as 24bit/96kHz FLAC files.[7]
Label Gate merged into Sony Music Solutions in 2021.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Sony Music Solutions Inc.｜Company Information｜Sony Music Group Corporate Site".
- ^ "ソニーの老舗音楽配信サイト「bitmusic」が7月6日で終了".
- ^ "Label Gate Company profile" (in Japanese). Label Gate. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^ "「2004年を音楽配信元年に」--交錯する音楽レーベルと配信事業者の思惑". 19 August 2004.
- ^ Jōji Meguro (2007-10-02). "レーベルゲート、Media Playerと操作体系を一体化した「mora win」の新サービス" (in Japanese). CNET Japan. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^ "音楽配信「mora」がDRMフリー+高音質化。10月1日から -AV Watch". Av.watch.impress.co.jp. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 2013-10-16.
- ^ "mora、FLAC形式のハイレゾ音源配信を10月17日開始 - AV Watch". Av.watch.impress.co.jp. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ "ソニー子会社のSMSと「mora」のレーベルゲートが統合". 17 February 2021.
External links
edit- Official website (In Japanese)
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