A fascinating inside look at what went wrong with Sony's Connect digital music project. A case study in how not to manage the engineering side of a digital media consumer business.
What happened at the start?
Digital media start up Kinoma had developed a specialized code base called FSK, a new system for handling multimedia files as they're transferred online, to PCs and between handheld devices. By early 2005, Kinoma demonstrated prototype digital music software dubbed KTunes, which was based on FSK. For Sony, with a severe case of Apple envy, partnering with Kinoma could provide a way to jump-start their digital music effort.
Seemingly a good match. NOT. The project, said one high-level Sony insider, was an "unmitigated disaster."
What went wrong?
In summary, a dysfunctional mix of politics and programming were deeply destructive to Sony's digital music ambitions, according to this article.
