London - Amazon (NASD: AMZN) is preparing to bring its MP3 store to the U.K., the Telegraph reports, and Amazon executives met with British record label heads last week to firm up the details. People familiar with the matter told the Telegraph that the store, which launched in the U.S. last year and is the only digital retailer to offer DRM-free MP3 tracks from all the major labels, is due to launch in the U.K. before the final quarter of the year.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Tuesday began publicizing a pair of ongoing promotions that offer customers deeply discounted albums from its MP3 store.

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) on Tuesday announced the launch of its new, DRM-free MP3 store, which it claims is 50% larger than any similar store, at 6 million tracks, with the largest major label MP3 catalog and the largest library of independent music. "Music fans have spoken and it's clear they need the convenience, ease of use and broad interoperability of the DRM-free MP3 format, and they want to be able to find both major label artists and independent music all in one place. Napster is delighted to deliver all of this and more with the world's largest MP3 catalog," said Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog.

Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Thursday launched the Amazon MP3 Clips Widget, which bloggers and website owners can post on their sites to offer song samples from the catalog of over 5 million tracks at the Amazon MP3 store. Users can also generate revenue if they join the Amazon Associates program, which offers up to 10% in referral fees when visitors click through the widget to purchase songs from Amazon.

Los Angeles - A 2006 album from current "American Idol" contestant David Cook that was the top-seller at Amazon.com's (NASD: AMZN) MP3 store over the weekend, besting even Mariah Carey's new album, has now been removed from the store, FoxNews.com reported. Whether the album was taken down by Cook himself or at the behest of someone else remains a mystery.

Los Angeles - A $300, limited edition of 2,500 version of Nine Inch Nails' new album "Ghosts I-IV" has sold out from the band's website just a day after the album went on sale in various formats and was made available for limited free download. The band's publicist says that the $5 downloadable version of the album was also propelled to the top spot at the Amazon MP3 store, the only place it was available for purchase other than NIN.com. Frontman Trent Reznor released the first nine tracks off the 36-track instrumental album for free download; other purchase options include a $10, 2 CD set and $75 limited edition deluxe package.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com has announced plans to begin an international rollout of its new DRM-free music store, Amazon MP3, which launched in the U.S. in September and now offers MP3s from all four major labels and over 33,000 independents. The company did not disclose a specific launch timeline for individual Amazon MP3 international websites, saying only that the rollout would begin in 2008.

Purchase, N.Y. - Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) and online retailer Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Monday confirmed plans for their $1 billion giveaway, which includes redeemable points on four billion Pepsi products that consumers can spend on MP3 downloads, as well as Amazon Unbox TV downloads, electronics, apparel, DVDs and CDs. The promotion will be unveiled in advertising during the Super Bowl broadcast, and commence on Feb. 1.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com on Tuesday announced the beta launch of Amazon MP3, a digital music store that offers over 2 million DRM-free tracks, more than a million of which are priced at 89 cents.