Facebook to give away iTunes samples

LOS ANGELES - Facebook, the No. 2 online social networking site in the US, today said it would give away 10 million music samplers to Macintosh and PC users from the iTunes Music Store in a back-to-school promotion.

The deal marks a new tack by Facebook in its ongoing effort to close the gap with its No. 1 rival, News Corp.'s MySpace, the popular online hangout that got its start as a music fan/band site and has grown to overtake Yahoo Inc.'s email gateway as the single most-visited US website, according to recent data.

Effective immediately, Facebook will give away 1 million 25-song music samplers from iTunes each week for the next 10 weeks. Apple Computer Inc. manufactures Macintosh computers and also owns and operates the iTunes Music Store.

Each iTunes music sampler will feature select songs from a different genre ranging from alternative to rock, hip-hop to dance and electronica.

One analyst said that Facebook's expansion into music could be seen as a sign that the rivalry between the two sites could become more competitive.

Facebook is considered a strong but distant competitor to MySpace, which has about 52 million unique visitors to Facebook's 13 million, according to analysts.

- REUTERS