Lycos to Launch Service Offering Links to MP3 Songs

Lycos Inc., a leading Web search engine, today is expected to launch a new service providing links to more than half a million online songs recorded using MP3 technology, from hits to garage band tunes.

Company officials say Lycos expects the service to attract more visitors to its site because none of the other major Internet directories offers such links and smaller Web sites devoted strictly to online music do not have such extensive collections.

Waltham, Mass.-based Lycos will provide the music links through a joint venture with Fast Search & Transfer, a Norwegian company specializing in image and video compression technologies for the Internet.

Fast Search has the largest online database of MP3 audio files, which enable fans to download CD-quality songs from the Internet onto their computers or MP3 players.

Despite their popularity, MP3 recordings are also controversial because they can be used, both legally and illegally, to distribute pirated recordings. More recording artists have begun supporting electronic distribution of their music, but others complain that unauthorized and free versions of their work are being made available online.

Lycos said that because it will only be providing links to the recordings and not maintaining the actual database, the search results it provides will not distinguish between legal and illegal recordings.