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The South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer will tie up with MusicNet to launch a combined subscription and downloads service in the UK, France and Germany later this year, before expanding into the rest of Europe and Asia. MusicNet will provide the underlying technology and music library.

The company said that the service will be compatible with its latest generations of portable music players, but declined to elaborate on wider compatibility or proposed prices.

Like Microsoft, Samsung appears to have accepted that music fans prefer Apple's digital music business model - where the iPod hardware is tightly integrated with the iTunes software and store. Currently Samsung players are compatible with any music store that is part of Microsoft's PlaysForSure programme.

It is a conclusion that Microsoft itself also seems to have reached, having announced in July that it would be launching a combined player-and-store service under the Zune brand.