When it launches in public beta Wednesday, URGE will offer listeners more than 2 million tracks they can purchase at 99 cents for one song or as full albums starting at $9.95. The unlimited monthly downloads rate of $9.95, or $14.95 gives consumers the ability to transfer songs to more than 100 different types of portable music players.
URGE will also come integrated into the latest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player. The agreement between Microsoft and MTV was officially announced in December, and again by Bill Gates earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Windows users who don't want to wait for the upgrade can download it either from URGE or the Microsoft Web site.
The service, however, shuts out most Apple Computer users who don't run a dual-boot platform for both Mac OS X and Windows XP operating systems. Unlike rivals Napster Inc. and RealNetworks Inc.'s' Rhapsody, URGE lacks compatibility with Apple's Macintosh computers and iPod digital music players.