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By Christmas punters in pubs, clubs, railway stations and even Woolworth's will be able to download songs directly to their MP3 players or mobile phones for a pound a pop.
Inspired Broadcast Networks (IBN), in conjunction with BT's broadband network, promised to begin trialling the service within a month. By March it hopes to have download outlets in 800 to 900 locations across the country.
The company already has 12,000 "entertainment terminals" in the UK, which act as jukeboxes and gaming machines.
Existing hardware can be modified to provide the download service with a "minor tweak that takes 25 minutes", according to IBN chief executive Norman Crowley.
"Any Nokia mobile phone and Creative Labs music players can download the tracks," he explained.
"There is no technological reason why iPods shouldn't be able to download the music too. As yet Apple hasn't licensed the technology but we think they will once they see how popular the service is."
Users will be able to transfer the songs onto their devices wirelessly or using a cable.
IBN was one of the first companies to popularise digital jukeboxes in the UK. These allow for easier updating and a much greater music selection than conventional jukeboxes.
To date the company has 2.1 million songs available and is in negotiations with record labels to add more.
See also:
Napster To Go service extended to support smartphones 04 Nov 2004
Online music services are back in business but this time you have to pay. We look at seven sites to see what you get for your money 12 Jul 2004The music industry has finally worked out how to make money out of internet music downloads. But will legal online music services be as popular as P2P sites? 18 Jun 2004
Portable MP3 players are the accessory du jour. Succumb to temptation with our round-up of these tiny objects of desire. 10 Jun 2004All Ecommerce
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