OAK BROOK Ill. McDonald’s aligned itself on Tuesday with a second big-name challenger of Apple’s dominance in the digital music business, agreeing to provide free WiFi access at nearly 10,000 units for users of Microsoft’s Zune portable media player. The Zune is marketed as an alternative to the iPod, Apple’s popular MP3 player.
The deal comes just a day after MySpace Music announced that the restaurant chain had agreed to be a charter sponsor of MySpace Music, a venture backed by Rupert Murdoch to whittle away at Apple’s dominant share of the music-download industry.
McDonald’s customers will be able to download songs through Microsoft’s partnership with Wayport Inc., which provides free wireless access to more than 9,800 of the chain’s units. The deal was announced as Microsoft released Zune 3.0 software, which allows users to download songs when they’re away from home.
Apple struck a deal last fall with Starbucks to give away 50 million free iPod downloads of songs.
