The East Is Wired.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: China gets MP3 - Brief Article

The corporate barons who own most pop music in the United States and Europe hate MP3, a computer-file format that makes it easy to post CD-quality music on the World Wide Web. Although it has so far mostly been used by unsigned acts and would-be pop stars to distribute their own music, record labels argue--not incorrectly--that MP3 also makes it easier to reproduce and distribute unauthorized versions of copyrighted material.

It's somehow fitting, then, that China, a nation often accused of coddling those who pirate Western entertainment products, is now planning to launch its very own state-financed and -regulated MP3 site in late spring. The site is a joint venture with an American company, called Houston Inter Web Design.

The Chinese Ministry of...