News Desk

Just a month after launching a 42" plasma television at a $3000 breakthrough price, Gateway announced a partnership with music subscription service pressplay that will enable legal downloads to consumers' computers.

Purchasers of new Gateway computers can also receive a pre-loaded 8.5-gigabyte music library—the so-called Gateway Music Vault by pressplay—and pre-installed pressplay software. The 8.5GB Music Vault includes approximately 2000 popular songs, according to a December 5 announcement. Older computers can be upgraded with a Gateway Music Vault that includes a $150 40GB hard drive package.

The pre-loaded playlist—the "Mega Pack"—is said to include songs from all five major music conglomerates, in addition to many from independent labels. Music fans who want to take the system for a test drive can sign up for a free three-day trial period called the Basic Pack, according to Gateway marketing vice president Brad Shaw. An intermediate option is the $30 Genre Pack, which offers 150 songs from one of seven popular music genres.

The partners have addressed archiving and portability rights, according to the announcement. If a subscription lapses, any tracks a customer has saved will remain playable.

Convenience is a big part of the Gateway Music Vault pitch. With a 56kbps dial-up connection, it would take a music fan approximately 480 hours of continuous downloading, or two months of eight-hour days, to acquire the library that comes loaded on the new computers. "Digital music is one of the things that's helping us differentiate ourselves in an increasingly commodified market," Shaw noted.

The Gateway/pressplay partnership is a fascinating twist in the continuing struggle of record labels against piracy, and proof that record labels and technology companies will continue to experiment until they find a formula that works for everyone—artists, copyright holders, content distributors, and consumers. "The Gateway Music Vault by pressplay is a great example of the technology and recording industries working together to drive innovation and ultimately serve consumer demand for legitimate digital music," said Gateway chairman and CEO Ted Waitt. One goal is to eliminate the popular conception that downloading is piracy while supporting "consumers' right to enjoy digital music legally," he added.