Bytes

MP3.com will add video and game-distribution to complement its established service of offering downloadable digital music files, the new chief executive, Robin Richards, told Wired last week. Richards said the change is in line with the plans of Vivendi Universal, the new owners, to work out a business plan for the digital and wireless delivery of all media it is involved in. "All of us are going to turn on our device – whatever that internet device is," he said. "In the house, the car or the office... we are going to grab our audio and video files, our favourite magazine and all of our media."

The public appetite for downloading music continues unabated, despite its court case. Webnoize released figures last week showing that in August more than three billion files were downloaded from FastTrack, Audiogalaxy, iMesh and Gnutella – more than Napster in its heyday which achieved 2.79 billion in February this year.

"Despite the millions of dollars spent trying to kill off pirate networks, the popularity of peer-to-peer sharing continues to grow," Webnoize's Matt Bailey said, adding that the figures will grow when students return to college. While music files predominate, Bailey said bootleg films are increasingly popular. "For the recording and motion picture industries, the peer-to-peer problem is about to go from bad to worse," he said.

Midbar, the Israeli security company that released a million copy-protected CDs into the European market last month, last week signed a deal with Bertelsmann for its Cactus Data Shield technology to be used to prevent the unauthorised digital copying of CDs. Midbar wants to move into the American market, but faces competition as Bertelsmann is already experimenting with technologies from other companies, such as Macrovision, on CDs issued under the BMG Entertainment label. Separately, Macrovision has been releasing titles including copy protection for months, but won't disclose album titles or labels involved "to ensure unbiased feedback".

Microsoft's $500m marketing budget for the Xbox games console began to gather momentum in the US last week. Deals with drinks, clothing and fast-food chains were announced, along with the news that Microsoft will replace PlayStation manufacturer Sony as sponsor of a televised extreme sports competition series.

Toys "R" Us said that its online store sold out of its first batch of pre-sale Xbox units in less than half an hour. The company refused to say how many units had been sold. With its partner, amazon.com, it offered a bundle of games and accessories with the console for $400, twice the estimated cost of the console alone when it ships on 8 November. Other retailers offering similar, or more expensive, bundles also reported that their pre-sale offers had sold out.