News

Amazon.com plans to become the latest company to compete with iTunes by offering paid music downloads as part of its massive online store. The Internet retail giant announced today that it will begin selling millions of songs as digital downloads later this year, and that all the songs will be free of copy protection technology—meaning that Amazon customers will be able to play them on an iPod, Zune, or any other digital music player.

Amazon's vice president of digital media, Bill Carr, told the Associated Press that the company's new online music store will provide a "much better, much more customer-centric experience in digital music" than rival sites like Napster, Rhapsody, and the still-dominant iTunes.

The first label to join Amazon's digital music venture is the EMI Music Group, home to artists like Coldplay, Pink Floyd, and Norah Jones. There is one glaring exception to the agreement, however: the Beatles' catalog, which remains unavailable in digital download format, will not be part of the deal.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
05.16.07