December 27, 2007

Amazon.com has signed on Warner Music Group to its music download service, which aims to compete with Apple's industry-dominating iTunes online store.

Warner Music songs are available on the Amazon MP3 service, which lets users purchase the tunes and download them to many digital music players, including Apple's iPod, the companies said on Thursday. They will also offer exclusive tracks and special album bundles.

Amazon launched the service in September after reaching deals with music labels Universal Music Group, part of Vivendi, and EMI.

It has priced many of its songs at 89 cents each, below the standard iTunes price of 99 cents.

Unlike Apple's store, Amazon's shop sells all of its songs without protection, allowing them to be played on a variety of devices, including Apple's popular iPod digital entertainment players.

Warner Music shares rose 7 cents to $6.04 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Amazon shares rose $1.38 to $94.23 on NASDAQ.

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