WebProNews

SpiralFrog.com, an ad supported Web site that allows users to download music and videos for free has launched in North America.

"Music fans demand fast access to high quality audio and video files and they want their music free, but they'd still like the music owners to be paid for their work and creativity," said Joe Mohen, chairman and founder of SpiralFrog.

"Our answer to this seemingly impossible equation is to allow our audience to download songs and video at no cost-other than their time and attention-and to compensate music owners by sharing the ad revenue."

Users of the site will not be able to burn their downloads to a CD, but they can be played on digital music players. A notable downside is the content is not compatible with Apple computers or the iPod. The service will work with Windows PCs running XP and Vista.

Currently SpiralFrog has a library of 800,000 songs and 3,500 music videos. Music fans will be able to search by artist and genre and will have access to artist's bios, reviews, discography, and album art. The service is similar to Yahoo Music Unlimited and Rhapsody minus a subscription fee. User will have to visit the site at least once per month or the songs that have been downloaded will not play.

The company has licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Broadcast Music Inc.