Yahoo Japan Prepares Music Download Service

Electronics conglomerate Sony has struck an agreement with Yahoo.com, through a Sony affiliate, to offer a music download service targeted at Japan.

The Sony affiliate, Label Gate, currently offers a download service called Mora. Yahoo’s service will be based on Mora, and according to MacWorld UK, will offer 73000 songs from 39 domestic labels.

Songs from the service will be encoded on Sony’s ATRAC3, “and be playable on compatible devices including some models of cellular telephones, NetMD-type MiniDisc players, ATRAC CD players and the recently launched PlayStation Portable, said Nozomi Yamaguchi, a spokeswoman for Label Gate in Tokyo.”

Yahoo Japan receives close to 40 million visitors a month is consistently among Japan’s most popular web sites. In November of 2004, Label Gate’s Mora service surpassed 300000 monthly downloads.

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