Relatively unknown UK online PC outfit MediaAtlantic has officially launched a legal music download service. The site promises to be an extensive store for your music downloads, complimenting the portable music players and audio accessories on sale at the company’s e-Store.

The launch actually makes MediaAtlantic the UK’s first dedicated online PC retailer to offer both legal music track downloads alongside the actual hardware to buy download to music on to. After placing your order on MediaAtlantic for your MP3 music player, you can now drop in on MusicAtlantic to start downloading some of the latest tracks, legally and safely.

The popularity of legal online music downloads grew ever larger in 2005, and with all the buzz about MP3 players’ continued popularity, it’s no surprise that legal downloads achieved a new record between Christmas and New Year’s.

According to Nielsen SoundScan data, legal downloads nearly hit the 20 million mark in that key holiday week in the US - almost three times the number of tracks downloaded in the same period the year before. The market research firm said that this new record smashed the previous weekly peak of 9.5 million tracks downloaded - and that record was set a mere week beforehand.

It goes without saying that Apple is the market leader. Consumers’ love affair with the iPod amazingly still seems to be going strong, and iTunes entered the list of top 10 music retailers in the third quarter of 2005. Traffic to Apple’s site was hopping in the weeks leading up to the holidays, largely due to iTunes' popularity.

The new music download site offers a catalogue of over 200,000 music tracks from artists new and old. You can also click through to over 28000 competitively priced items including music players, audio equipment, gadgets and many audio and iPod accessories. Tracks available are in high quality (192Kbit/s) Windows Media Audio (WMA) format and you can pay by debit/credit card or via Text (SMS).

‘We are offering our customers a fantastic choice,’ says Paul Johnson, Managing Director MusicAtlantic. ‘Users of our site can choose the track they want from a catalogue of 1000s of artists, updated daily and then get a great deal on a music player or storage medium to listen to the music on.’

The site offers music from top artists such as Franz Ferdinand and Eminem. New artists are added daily to ensure you can always find your favourite artist and the latest chart singles/albums, claims the company. The system does not include any subscription fees, lets you hear a high-quality 30-second excerpt from a track, and then buy it.

Singles cost from just 79p and albums start at £6.99. The service is powered by 7Digital and can be viewed at www.musicatlantic.com.

BIOS, Jan 11, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Audio