Tower Records to Launch New Music Download Store Tuesday

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 26, 2006 - 1:40pm.

Los Angeles - Music retail store chain Tower Records plans to launch a new digital music store on Tuesday that will be powered by Puretracks, which operates a popular service in Canada, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The service will initially offer a library of 1.2 million tracks, available for 99 cents each or $9.99 for full albums. Tower also plans to offer special bundles that combine CD and download purchases. Songs will be available in Microsoft's Windows Media format, in a higher bitrate (192 kbps) than is available from some other stores; however, the songs will not be compatible with Apple's iPod. "There's a gigantic gap in the market," Tower's Jason Munyon told THR. "Everyone's going for the big hit titles and the best-known names and not focusing on the true music fan consumers. We have a broad and deep catalog in all genres -- we're known for this, and we're experts at it."

http://tinyurl.com/hs9ha (Hollywood Reporter)
http://www.puretracks.com
http://www.tower.com/digital