In unrelated Barnesandnoble.com news, the bookseller, as expected, went live with its music store last week, at the same time that it modestly redesigned its site by changing its layout and color scheme. The new music site (music.barnesandnoble.com) carries "hundreds of thousands" of titles that it will sell for as much as 30% off, andwill fulfill through Barnes & Noble warehouses as well as the distribution centers of the Alliance Entertainment Corp. It will strive for 24-hour delivery.
The e-retailer says it has begun courting affiliate partners; Mindspring and Ticketmaster have already signed up. It also plans to offer videos at some point (BN.com already sells software). Daniel Blackman, BN.com's director of music, video and software, said, "We will be aggressively moving ahead" with downloadable music. He added that there are some "definite cross-promotional opportunities" with the book side.
