Sony to sell music on Amazon's MP3 store

Sony BMG Music Entertainment is to become the

fourth and final major label to sell digital music without copyright protection through Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer.

Not only does the move announced by the two companies last week make Amazon a strong rival to Apple's iTunes, the leading digital music store, but Sony BMG's conversion to the MP3 format also deals a blow to the software known as digital rights management, or DRM, which is meant to keep consumers from making unauthorised copies of

copyrighted digital material.

Sony BMG, the second-largest music company in the world, said it would begin offering its music catalogue - which includes such performers as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Justin Timberlake, the Foo Fighters, Beyonce, Celine Dion and Britney Spears - on Amazon by the end of the month.

It followed the Universal Music Group and EMI Group, which began selling their music on Amazon's MP3 store when it started up in September, as well as Warner Music Group, which signed up in December.

The deal makes Seattle-based Amazon the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3 downloads from all four major music labels. It also sells such music from more than 33,000 independent labels.

In contrast, EMI is the only major label on iTunes to sell its music without copyright protection.

The campaign against DRM heated up in February when Apple's chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, called for its end. Music industry players have since begun to concede that DRM might have more

drawbacks than advantages to the industry.

Digital music bought from Amazon can be played on virtually any digital device, including iPods, Microsoft Corp's Zune, personal computers, Macs, mobile phones and Blackberrys.

Music bought from iTunes, however, can only be played on iPods.

New York-based Sony BMG's partnership with Amazon followed its announcement at the beginning of the week that it would begin limited selling of DRM-free music on the internet that would require buyers first to buy plastic cards at retail stores that would contain a code allowing them to go online and download certain albums. Only 37 albums were offered for sale.