MP3.com To Go Brick-And-Mortar

In a rare instance of a dot-com going brick-and-mortar,
MP3.com, the embattled online music retailer that has
been under fire from the recording industry, reportedly plans to
participate in a chain of storefront entertainment complexes.

The company said Monday it has inked an agreement with The Outernet
Inc., a chain of retail outlets, that will enable consumers to go to
the stores to create their own custom-made CDs, according to a report
in the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper, which noted that the CDs will
feature artists and groups posting their music on MP3.com.

MP3 execs said the arrangement creates an offline opportunity for
digital artists to potentially increase their earnings through CD
sales at a retail outlet, and that Outernet will use the MP3
technology and material to deliver the custom-made CDs to consumers.
The discs will be created when buyers use interactive touch screen
monitors to search the MP3.com database for songs they wish to
purchase, which will then be "outloaded" to a CD burning system in
each store, the newspaper said, adding that the Outernet's first
location is slated to open in Apple Valley, Minn., this fall.
Twenty more locations are scheduled to open by mid-2001.

Reported By Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.