Apple Computer was set today to unveil a long-awaited online music service after landing agreements with the top five record labels that would allow users to buy single songs from a deep catalogue.
Apple's service, which reportedly charges about $1 per song, has already won the backing of some record executives who have seen the service and praised its relative simplicity.
Record industry executives have expressed hope that Apple's commercial music offering can lure users away from the file-sharing Internet services that music companies have blamed for slumping CD sales.
Entertainment companies battling to shut down such file-sharing sites suffered a stunning setback last week when a federal judge in Los Angeles denied a request to shut the Grokster and Morpheus song-swap services, saying they cannot control what is traded over their networks.
Record labels said they planned to appeal the decision by US District Judge Stephen Wilson, which held that while making unauthorized copies of songs and movies on file-sharing networks was illegal, the companies behind the Grokster and Morpheus online networks were not liable for piracy because they do not monitor or control their users' actions.
