HMV takes on iTunes with 7Digital


26 Jul 2010

British entertainment giant HMV is looking to take on Apple’s iTunes digital music model with a new online store of its own called hmvdigital.com.

Hmvdigital.com is powered by digital music retailer 7Digital, which it bought a 50pc stake in last September.

7Digital is also the download engine behind popular streaming music service Spotify, offering subscribers direct links to download MP3s of available songs to which they are listening.

The site offers MP3 downloads across all popular music genres and audio books, which can be imported into the iTunes library and loaded onto iPods, iPhones or other media players. All downloads automatically sync with iTunes or Windows Music Player on your desktop/laptop.

Songs are being offered for UK£0.99 – the same as iTunes – but Top 40 singles are on offer for UK£0.40.

“Some people tend to think of us as a traditional retailer, but the fact is we’ve completely transformed our business,” said Melanie Armstrong, HMV’s head of music in the Sun online.

“The launch of hmvdigital means we have a world-class music download platform,” she added.

This launch adds to its current online presence in the form of HMV.com where you can buy CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and other forms of media.