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Just An Online Minute... Bumps On The Road To Universal-Format Music

In the latest move in the dynamic digital music space, AOL said it tapped Napster as supplier for its music subscription and sales service. The deal comes only about 14 months after AOL purchased MusicNow.

In addition to subscriptions, AOL sells individual tracks--but with restrictions. Napster, like MusicNow, only offers tracks with digital rights management coding designed to prevent users from transferring their songs to Apple's iPods. Napster, on its frequently asked questions page, blames Apple: "Apple has chosen to keep both the iPod and iTunes closed off from Napster and every other digital music service," states the company.

But the problem doesn't just stem from Apple. If Napster and other music services that sell tracks decided to do so in MP3 format, they could be transferred to any make of portable device.

Some companies appear to be moving in that direction. Yahoo, for one, has experimented with sales of MP3s. Last summer, the company sold Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" in that format, but charged $1.99 for the track--twice as much as typical. (Yahoo said in a blog post that the song was so expensive because users could personalize it by having Simpson mention their names.)

MySpace also has struck a deal with Snocap--an online music service launched by Napster founder Shawn Fanning--to sell music in MP3 format.

While Snocap is expected to mainly sell tracks from small, independent bands, the deal still marks a start towards broader MP3 sales. Sooner or later the hardware sellers and the music labels will realize that digital music is only going to be more appealing once consumers can play it on any device they wish.

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