Digital music company MP3.com has launched a subscription service that will allow users to download as much music as they like for a flat monthly or yearly fee.
Under the premium listener service, dubbed PLuS Express, music fans will pay either $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year to access MP3.com's library of more than 1m songs. Subscribers will be able to create online music collections and move tracks around by, for example, downloading a song onto a portable MP3 player or burning the tracks onto a CD.
"Digital music isn't just about online music, but also about a wealth of new devices that give consumers new ways to listen to their music when they're not connected to the net," said Stacy Clark, senior director of marketing at MP3.com. "PLuS Express integrates support for both portable MP3 players and CD burning. It's designed to give consumers the best possible music experience online and offline."
The company has been looking for a way to distribute digital music that will both turn a profit and respect the music's copyright owners. MP3.com was forced to pay $150m (£108m) after major record labels sued the company for copyright infringement last year.
In September a federal judge ruled that MP3.com had violated copyright on between 5,000 and 10,000 CDs by allowing visitors to download music from the site in MP3 format. MP3.com is still facing copyright lawsuits from individual artists.
Last month the company was acquired by music publisher Vivendi Universal. MP3.com is Vivendi's third foray into digital music distribution, following deals with Sony and Yahoo! to create online music subscription services.
The digital music distribution industry is undergoing rapid change. Former song swap service Napster recently agreed to partner with EMI, AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann to distribute music on RealNetworks' MusicNet platform. Napster is still facing a copyright lawsuit from the world's five most powerful record labels, including the three that inked the MusicNet partnership with it.
Related articles
21.05.2001: Vivendi Universal buys MP3.com
10.05.2001: Performers sue MP3.com for £27m
19.10.2000: Agreement to save My.MP3.com
Useful links
MP3.com subscription service
MusicNet
