From today, visitors to website lala.com will be able to listen to the digital music catalogue of Warner Music Group Corp. on their computers - for free.
The site allows you to stream music freely on demand, only buying it if you want to download it onto a portable player. Lala says it is working to secure licenses with the other three of the 'big four' recording labels.
Lala.com's idea is that if users get free access to music at home, they will still be prepared to pay for taking favourite tracks on the road on iPods and other MP3 players. Music is only available by the album, rather than on a per song basis.
Significantly, the new free lala.com service will be the first iTunes competitor to be compatible with the iPod. Users can download tunes directly from a Website into their iPods without using iTunes software.
Record companies believe this feature will make Lala more appealing than competing music stores that only work with non-iPod MP3 players.