• Reuters, Friday, November 7, 2008 11:30 AM

Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of MySpace, on Thursday said, "It's possible" that MySpace could develop a digital music player to rival Apple's iPod, although he said that there are no immediate plans to do so. "Right now, we're just focusing on the service," DeWolfe told an audience at the Web 2.0 summit, referring to the joint music venture his company recently launched with several major record labels.

The service, called MySpace Music, launched in September with the aim of becoming the de facto music destination on the Web. Among other things, the ad-supported site allows users to stream music from its partner catalog for free. McDonald's, Sony Pictures, Toyota and State Farm have sponsored the site. DeWolfe also presented early usage numbers of the new MySpace Music. Within the first few days of its launch, people streamed music more than 1 billion times, creating more than 80 million playlists. Some five million bands have uploaded their music to the site since.

Interestingly, the MySpace CEO doesn't see MySpace Music as a direct competitor to Apple's iTunes. Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman agreed, whose company provides music for both services, agreed, saying that MySpace Music was more about "community and sharing," while iTunes, which doesn't make a profit, exists for the purpose of selling iPods. "If anything, we'll be accretive to iPod sales" DeWolfe said. "Unless we develop a device," he added.

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