Los Angeles (CA) - A new music downloading service makes its debut today, offering free songs to people who are willing to cope with advertising and heavy DRM restrictions.

Spiral Frog, which has been in beta for months, arranged a deal with record companies that's not typical for the industry - it will give a cut of its advertising dollars to the labels who agree to provide music tracks to users to download for free.

"We believe it will be a very powerful alternative to the pirate sites," said Spiral Frog founder Joe Mohen.  Hardcore music pirates are unlikely to be impressed with the selection at Spiral Frog, though.  Its only major label is Universal Music.  The rest of the initial 800,000 tracks offered on the site are from small labels and independent artists.

The service is riddled with DRM copy protection.  Users cannot burn the tracks to a CD, nor are they compatible with Apple's iPod.  The files can be played on a PC, and according to Spiral Frog the tracks are compatible with other various digital music players.  However, each song can only be transfered to two players.

Users are also required to log into their Spiral Frog account at least once a month to keep the licenses to their downloaded songs active.

The site says it plans to have two million tracks available by mid-2008.

Music Version of DiVX?

Sep 17, 2007 12:00     

There as a dvd format that allow viewers to see the movie only for 48 hours then it required a fee to be able to view the movie again. Even if one bought the movie at the supposedly lower price, it required a fee so the view can see it again. This seems to be a music version of the same service. It seems like a hassle for what one gets.
TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

cool

Sep 17, 2007 12:32     

Its great to see another legal option. So now there is: CD with medium audio quality and add free. Sold MP3's with lower quality and add free. Free MP3's with lower quality and adds. Its a shame that there isnt variety in higher quality (eg SACD and DVD-a).
Jay report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Nice move

Sep 17, 2007 12:37     

Its a gud thot watever maybe the outcome of this move it should reduce piracy. Nice try but DRM is a bad game
Ancient report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Choking on DRM

Sep 17, 2007 14:24     

Not able to burn CDs? Only play in WMP? No support for iPods and only two media player transfers? No, thanks. iTunes Plus and other means for procuring music for me in that case.
AJF report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

seriously. piracy is a fact of life

Sep 17, 2007 17:58     

piracy is a fact of life. you cannot beat it. it will not go away. eventually, decades from now, the entertainment industry will crumble to nothingness and the world population will find other enjoyable things to fill their lives with.
R report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

played on a pc?

Sep 18, 2007 07:38     

When it says 'played on a pc', do they mean any pc or just a WinPC? Napster only works with a WinPC. It would be nice to find a music site that works with any pc (not just to order but be able to download music). I have a music player that acts like a usb drive when connected to any pc with usb support. I can use it with my eCS PC ( http://www.ecomstation.com ).
TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Only for Windows

Sep 18, 2007 18:00     

It seems it is only for Windows users. With the DRM, it is not worth the effort.
TomLeeM/BigWarpGuy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I'm convinced

Sep 18, 2007 23:18     

I tried this thing out and it's not too invasive. The files download as WMA's, so you don't actually need WMP (I use winamp). I haven't really noticed the drm, and either way, it's much better than itunes. This is FREE with comparable or fewer restrictions. It would be nice if they offered more songs though. I honestly beleive this could help decrease piracy, its the same price with *minimal* (compared to other services) restrictions, and its arguably easier to find the right songs with less risk of malware.

karson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

er

Sep 22, 2007 04:44     

where can i find free ipod downloads for ipod nano (2 gigabite)
ema report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

We7 is better than Spiral

Oct 01, 2007 05:47     

I recently discovered www.we7.com. I have to say Im impressed with it because it offers DRM free tracks to own. I am able to use my ipod with We7 and I like the new artist friendliness about it. There is a downside, the content is limited compared to Spiral but Iv been using the service for 1 month and the content side is always growing. Have a look!
Kurt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0