EMI backs legal pretenders to deposed Napster crown

Music giant EMI has said it is to license its songs to online music service Pressplay - a collaboration between Sony and Vivendi Universal.

The companies - three of the 'big four' who ran Napster through the courts and into the ground - will make their music available online via the subscription-based service which is set to go live sometime in the coming months.

EMI has also given its backing to a second online offering, MusicNet, which is also backed by AOL Time Warner and RealNetworks.

MusicNet is also expected to go live soon, but the two services which are being launched as a legal, and more financially beneficial (from the record companies' perspective) alternative to Napster appear at this early stage to be inherently flawed as far as the consumer is concerned.

EMI is the only major record label with feet in both camps - with Sony and Universal likely to give their backing solely to their own venture and Warner, the last of the big four, likely to remain loyal to MusicNet. This means music fans are going to have to subscribe to both services in order to enjoy a full range of music online.