DVD Burning Bits.com - Coke music site problems persist

The My Coke Music site is called "the first consumer branded, legitimate downloadable music site", but was offline much of Monday and Tuesday.

Coke is hoping to cash in on the recent growth in online music services, which have been spearheaded by iTunes.

The website said it was being "uploaded with the latest music" and told users to return at 1600 GMT.

A Coca-Cola spokesman said: "As you can appreciate, being the first to do this and working with new technology there are often teething problems. However we are confident the site will be fully operational very.

"Our primary aim is to get the technology right, the consumer experience right and to develop the site further to make it the best place to download music on the net."

The service is powered by Peter Gabriel's company OD2, who provide the infrastructure for Virgin and HMV's download sites.

250,000 songs

The website initially told users to return at 1100 GMT on Tuesday but this was later put back by more than five hours.

It is reported that the technical problems were compounded by the fact that support staff in the US were not in their offices because it was a national holiday there.

The site is supposed to have more than 250,000 songs, including latest releases and catalogue tracks. Individual songs can be bought for 80p, with albums costing �6.40 or higher.

The site has also promised to have song by artists such as Stereophonics, Sugababes and Kings of Leon on the site up to six weeks before they are made available in the shops.

And instead of downloading tracks, people will also be able to listen to songs through their computer for as little as 1p a track.

The site is only available to people who have credit cards.

Coca-Cola were unavailable for further comment on Tuesday.