Microsoft today launched its much awaited music download store, original unveiling of which had been planned for July. Going by the name of MSN Music, the store is all set to sell over a million tracks which are DRM free.

According to Microsoft, the new service will offer users a "rich, web-based experience". All the songs offered at the store will contain information like biographies and discographies of the pertaining to artists and/or bands.

With the new online music store, Microsoft is testing out a credit system as well, under which users can get ten credits for ?7.99. The cost of each track is one credit, while an album is priced at ten credits. With a pricing which is exactly like the one offered by iTunes, Microsoft is hoping that by offering user a better experience, it will score over customers away from iTunes as well as other, much older, music download stores. Also being offered for a limited time is a free music streaming service.

Planning on starting with small steps, and expanding carefully, Microsoft is offering the MSN Music service to a limited number of user initially, for a limited period of time.