Big names sign up to iTunes rival

Some of the heavy weights in the record industry including Universal and SonyBMG have begun selling music through a new download based service, challenging Apple’s iTunes store.

gBox will allow music fans to download tracks directly from the gBox site or from online retailer Amazon. However, only US customers can currently make use of the service.

Last week gBox inked a deal with Google, which allows gBox to benefit from a special advertising deal. The search engine giant will get standard advertising fees rather than a cut of sales under the arrangement.

With Wal-Mart also now selling DRM free music on their site for $0.94 a pop it’s a wonder if this might be what gives iTunes a run for it’s money, especially now that the music is DRM free which means you can easily play it on an iPod.

Frank's the editor in chief of tech.nocr.at. He can be found surfing the internet and playing with gadgets. Follow him on twitter @franklinhares