ARTS & CULTURE

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FINANCIAL TIMES - Amazon moved to shake up the online music business
on Wednesday by setting up a direct rival to Apple's Itunes that will
sell tracks without copyright ­ protection. Amazon said its decision to
abandon so - called digital rights management software and instead sell
tracks in the MP3 format would allow consumers easily to transfer music
among a variety of devices - from Ipods to personal computers and
compact discs. The pioneering online retailer believes that will help to
spur the next growth phase of the burgeoning digital music market. . .
The Amazon service will launch later this year with support from EMI,
the third - largest record company, and more than 1,000 smaller labels.
Six weeks ago, EMI became the first major label to abandon copyright
protection when it announced an agreement with Apple to sell its
catalogue through iTunes without DRM. The decision was hailed by Steve
Jobs, Apple's chief executive.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bbe3caec - 03bd - 11dc - a931 -
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