February 13, 2008

By By Andre Paine, London

Play.com has launched a download store, PlayDigital, offering DRM-free tracks.

The company, based in the British island of Jersey, got in ahead of Amazon.co.uk, which also plans to offer a download store with DRM-free tracks.

Play.com boasts 1.3 million tracks, with its top 100 priced at ?0.65 ($1.28), compared to ?0.79 ($1.55) on the iTunes U.K. store. Other tracks on Play.com cost ?0.70 ($1.37) and popular chart albums are ?6.99 ($13.76).

The download service, which launched Wednesday, has a library of tracks licensed from EMI and independent labels and is in talks with the other majors to sell DRM-free music.

Apple's iTunes store has an estimated 70% of the U.K. market, although it has a limited range of DRM-free tracks. As previously reported, iTunes will be reducing its prices after the European Commission said the cost per track in Britain should be in line with the rest of Europe.

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