Eagles to Make a Dozen Songs Available Free on the Internet

Looking forward and back at the same time, venerable California rockers the Eaglesplan to distribute a dozen songs from their new boxed set for free over the Internet.

The four-CD boxed set, “The Eagles: Selected Works 1972-1999,” goes on sale Nov. 14 at a list price of nearly $60. The same day, in an attempt to promote the boxed set, the band will make downloadable copies of all the songs on the fourth CD--recorded live last year at a New Year’s Eve concert in Los Angeles--available at eight online retailers.

In an unusual step, the live performance, including such Eagles hits as “Hotel California” and “The Best of My Love,” will be MP3 files that can be freely duplicated, loaded onto portable players or recorded onto custom CDs. The major record labels have avoided the popular MP3 format for fear of piracy, but the live recordings are owned by the Eagles, not WEA/Elektra Entertainment, the label that’s releasing the boxed set.

None of the online retailers will have all free Eagle MP3s, so fans will have to visit multiple sites to collect them all. Those sites include Amazon.com, CDNow, Tower Records, Barnes and Nobles and Borders.