Online retailer Play.com has upped the ante in its battle against Apple's iTunes Music Store, with the news that it now offers music downloads from all four major record labels after signing a deal with Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal.
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Users will now be able to download music from bands such as Keane, Kaiser Chiefs and Snow Patrol.
The PlayDigital download site, which launched in February 2007, initially only offered tracks from EMI's roster of artists and a number of independent record companies.
But the addition of the remaining three of the 'big four' record labels means the site now offers more than three million songs available for download in the universal MP3 format, and free from any digital-rights management encryption.
This means songs purchased from PlayDigital will work on any MP3 player, including iPods.
It constitutes a significant challenge to Apple's dominance of the digital download space.
Some tracks will cost less from PlayDigital than they do from the iTunes music store, and songs purchased from Apple's download service can only be played on its own iPod range of music players.
"We now have an offer to rival that of iTunes, yet in a format that gives the consumer choice and at a more appealing price," said Wendy Snowdon, head of PlayDigital.
"This site has been a phenomenal success since launch and now, armed with the full back catalogue and current releases from the all the majors, we are fantastically placed to take a bigger bite of the apple."
Play.com's announcement comes just weeks after 7digital became the first online music retailer in the UK to offer DRM-free songs from all four major record labels.
Amazon, which offers DRM-free MP3 downloads in the United States, is also expected to roll its service out in the UK in the coming months.
