MySpace will launch on Thursday a new service that will offer its 120 million users, free access to hundreds of thousands of songs from major record companies in the world. But the music can only be played on personal computers connected to the Internet and users will have to accept advertising that will appear sporadically on their screens. All those wishing to transfer a song to a portable device like the iPod from Apple, will have to purchase music through the download service launched a year ago by Amazon.com Inc., which sells songs starting 79 cents per unit.
Unlike most of the material on the iTunes Store of Apple, music sold through the new version of MySpace does not contain limitations that restrict the number of times a song can be copied.
MySpace hopes to differentiate even more than iTunes to allow their users to create a unlimited number of lists that have 100 songs each, a concept similar to the exchange of music services offered by imeem and Last.fm.
If MySpace is successful, users will incorporate regular lists of songs to their lists and profiles shall make known to their friends their new musical tastes.
