Pressplay in deal to provide personalized Web music

LOS ANGELES: Pressplay, the joint online music venture of Sony Corp. and

Vivendi Universal, on Monday said it had reached a deal with privately held

MediaUnbound to provide technology that would allow subscribers to customize

their Web music services.

MediaUnbound's software will enable Pressplay to provide personal

recommendations to subscribers based on their musical tastes, the company said.

Harvard University students, including Chairman Michael Papish, founded

MediaUnbound in Jan. 2000 after launching the school's radio station (WHRB) on

the Web. Pressplay was launched in December and provides music from Universal

Music, Sony Music, and EMI Group Plc.

It is one of several subscription services that have emerged in the past few

months aiming to capitalize on the demand for music on the Web demonstrated by

Napster Inc. before its site was idled due to a copyright infringement suit.

Napster has also recently launched a new secure version of its service and is

attempting to get licenses from major recording companies for use of their

music. The MediaUnbound software will be embedded throughout all versions of the

Pressplay service and offered by Pressplay through its distribution affiliates,

the company said.

(C) Reuters Limited.