Sony's online music store linked to airline

By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Knight Ridder News Service

LAS VEGAS — Sony will launch a new online music store this spring with an exclusive United Airlines promotion that allows those who fly the friendly skies to trade frequent-flier miles for free songs.

The miles-for-music promotion would generate buzz for the new Sony Connect service at a time when everyone — from giant discounters to specialty coffee brewers — is rushing to sell music downloads.

Sony Connect general manager Jay Samit said the United Airlines deal will allow a legitimate online music store to compete with the unlicensed but free file-swapping services like Kazaa.

"What Connect has finally done is beat the pirates at their own game to offer better-quality files without consumers having to spend a dime," he said this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

United's promotion will allow the airline's 43 million frequent fliers to exchange accumulated miles for tracks through a jointly branded Sony-Mileage Plus Web site.

Sony has chosen to use its own digital audio format, ATRAC3plus, to deliver music downloads. That limits music players that work with the service to Sony's own products, such as the new Hi-MD Walkman digital player and the ATRAC CD Walkman.