October 23, 2008

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

Universal Music Group is teaming with Dell to give customers the option of adding pre-loaded MP3s from the label's catalog to new computers purchased from the company.

The deal does not provide access to the full UMG catalog, but rather a collection of curated playlists organized by various themes - No. 1 songs, Rock Titans, Blues Masters, etc. - as well as music featured in films that Dell also offers as bundled content. A 50-song playlist for $25, and a 100-song playlist for $50, which works out to about half the cost per-track from music purchased online. All files will be DRM-free.

The pre-installed music bundles will be organized under a "Music" icon in Dell's system, which customer can then move to their preferred music management software as they like.

UMG says it plans to expand the number and themes of the playlists, as well as update the songs added to each, on a regular basis.

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