MusicNet to Add Windows Media

MusicNet, the online music wholesaler co-founded by RealNetworks Inc., is expected to announce today that it plans to offer songs in the Windows Media format created by its archrival, Microsoft Corp.

The addition of Windows Media could help MusicNet win distribution deals from companies that don’t want to use Real’s format, which MusicNet had been using exclusively.

It also opens the door for MusicNet’s main distributor, AOL Time Warner Inc.’s America Online Internet service, to shift its version of MusicNet to Windows Media.

Seattle-based RealNetworks formed MusicNet two years ago in partnership with music distributors Bertelsmann, EMI Group’s EMI Recorded Music and AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music Group.

Jon Healey