HP and EMusic cut deal

Hewlett-Packard, the leading maker of read/write CD drives, has agreed to buy $3 million worth of MP3s from EMusic.com to be given away with the sale of their drives. HP believes the deal will boost the sale of its drives and EMusic clearly needs the cash and new customers. Normally, EMusic charges 99 cents per track, but this deal gives buyers of HP CDR-W drives two months of unlimited downloads. A Forbes writer says the deal pushes the legal limits of copyright law while moving EMusic toward a subscription-based business similar to that which MP3.com is adopting.

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