iTom wants to be your friend

MySpace, the popular online social network owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, could develop a digital music player in the future, pitting it against Apple Inc’s hot-selling iPod.

But there are no immediate plans to make or sell such a device, MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said at a conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

"It’s possible" that MySpace, which recently launched a music joint venture with major music labels, could eventually build a device for listening to music, DeWolfe said in response to a question from conference host John Battelle.
"Right now, we’re just focusing on the service," DeWolfe said at the Web 2.0 summit.

MySpace, the largest online social networking site, launched MySpace Music in September, aiming to become the ultimate one-stop for music fans.
The joint venture between MySpace and major music labels such as Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group lets people access a range of new music services, including streaming, music and ringtone downloads, videos, ticketing and merchandising.

McDonald’s, Sony Pictures, Toyota and State Farm are advertising sponsors of the site.

"We wanted to come up with a program that meets the needs of music companies and artists, by definition, and users," DeWolfe said.

People streamed music more than 1 billion times in the first few days and have created 80 million playlists since the launch, DeWolfe said. Five million bands upload their music to the site.

Music companies have been keen on another major player to boost sales by driving competition to iTunes — Apple’s digital music store and the top U.S. music retailer — even as CD sales have fallen in recent years. [read more @ Billboard ]