The challengers to Apple's iTunes are lining up

Stelios Haji-Ioannou's move comes as Microsoft and Yahoo revealed challenges to the likes of established services like Apple's iTunes and Napster.

Some tracks on Easymusic will cost as little as 25 pence (45 cents).

The launch could trigger a price war, although consumers will face competing standards, with some downloads playing only on certain portable devices.

Apple's iTunes dominates the market, in part boosted by the phenomenal success of the firm's iPod portable music player.

But Apple has come under fire this week for charging UK users more than those in France and Germany.

Price investigation

The Consumers' Association has written to the Office of Fair Trading asking it to investigate iTunes for possible breaches of EU competition rules.

Meanwhile, in a direct challenge to the dominance of iTunes in the United States, RealNetworks for a few weeks halved the price of its downloads in a bid to boost its share of the market.

Its price promotion coincided with the launch of software that allowed users of Apple's popular iPod portable music player to play tracks downloaded from the RealNetworks website.

Easymusic's partnership with Wippit follows in the footsteps of McDonalds and Coca-Cola, who have teamed up with the respective download services from Sony and OD2, the company founded by rock star Peter Gabriel.

Mr Haji-Ioannou built the UK carrier Easyjet into one of Europe's biggest no-frills airlines before stepping down from its board in 2002 to concentrate on other ventures.