News Europe's online music plans

From the Beeb:

Online music services Napster and iTunes are the biggest brand names in the online music world but are US only. What can European music lovers use?

There is no greater sign of the music industry getting to grips with online music than the rebirth of Napster as a paid-for service.

Admittedly, Napster 2.0 is not a return to the pioneering service which shook the industry to its foundations, but as a brand name it has global appeal.

The availability of 500,000 songs at 99c (69p) per track and $9.95 for a whole album is one more big step forward for legitimate online music services.

Other positive signs include the remarkable success of Apple's iTunes, which has removed any lingering doubt that people are willing to pay for their music online.

But iTunes and Napster, along with other giants Emusic, Listen.com and Music Match, are US-only.

Apple has plans to launch iTunes in Europe but there is no sign the other services will follow.

But that does not mean there is a lack of such services in Europe.

More than 210,000 songs from the big five labels can be downloaded in Europe, mainly through the distribution company OD2 .

Full story here

The 'other' services would be mad not to move into other territories IMHO. The combined population of Europe far outstrips that of the US. More potential punters = greater potential profit. What have they got to loose? It's not as if there's any distribution cost and production costs involved - just the cost of running the servers which is a lot less than trad delivery channels.

I don't think it'll come to this though. The 'others' won't want to let Mr Jobs steal a march on them again, and I can see the floodgates openeing when the European iTunes music store opens its doors.