“Sony announced the European opening in June of its Connect music store on the Internet, where consumer can buy songs from 0.99 euros apiece and download them on their computer before exporting them to Sony minisdisc players and walkmans,” Reuters reports. “A version for the United States, competing with Apple’s hugely successful iTunes Music Store, was announced in January.”

Reuters reports, “Connect will start in France, Britain and Germany with 300,000 songs from the five major labels, including Sony Music, plus independent publishers and national and regional artists. Sony has beefed up its software player SonicStage and while giving better compression for more efficient storage and increased protection against piracy, the firm had also removed the restrictive usage rules which consumers have balked at.”

“There is no longer a limit to the number of times a CD can be copied or to the songs that can be compressed and exported to other SonicStage devices. Rival software such as RealNetworks RealPlayer or Apple’s iTunes do not have such restrictions,” Reuters reports. “There will be more restricted export rules for songs bought at Connect, depending on demands from the music labels, Sony said.”

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