The Change Mariner

Coke Joins Music Downloads To Market

PCPRO:
Coca-Cola is to launch a UK music downloads service in January.
myCokeMusic will offer more than 250,000 tracks at 99p each and will be based on technology from OD2, which already provides similar services for MSN, HMV and Freeserve, amongst others.

This means that Coke's downloads will almost certainly be in Windows Media format and consequently will be protected by Microsoft's Digital Rights Management technology. It is not yet known to what extent the service will allow you to copy downloads from your computer to other devices, such as portable players and CDs.

Coca-Cola is planning to promote the service through promotions on its soft drink products, which will put it in a very strong position to compete with more established downloads brands such as Apple's iTunes Music Store and the relaunched Napster.