How well it does?
Well, I live in Iceland, where CDs cost waaaaaay too much ($25-30 usually). Because of this, I just don't buy CDs here. I will buy the occasional CD when travelling to USA, or UK where things may be better. Sales of Macs outside USA account for almost half of sales. Along comes a service that looks great, and where the prices are reasonable. i for one would love to start downloading songs. This would be extra money for the companies, because at present, I just don't pay the inflated prices. If they want to roll out different prices for us in Europe, like they do with normal CDs, so be it. My point is that with a Mac only service at present, doubling the number of people that will use the service would make more sense at the trial stage, while they roll out the software to let Windows users in on the deal.
We really get a second class service here in Europe. We pay more for the hardware and software, and don't get the perks (such as free prints from the iPhoto stores).
We live in a global economy, where the only way forward would be to roll out truly international standards that let everyone join in simultaneously. If Apple could do that, that would be a real step forward.
They can take my $99 for .Mac, why then not for this service? I understand when shipping is involved that there are other considerations, but this is a downloading service. If the music companies really believe that this will revive their flagging sales, then they should maximise their target audience from the start. At present the whole system is on trial, since it is available just to Mac users. Until Windows users have access, it is up to us.
Cmon Steve, let us make this a success.
