Tom Petty’S Latest Single Available For Web Downloads

MP3, the controversial data compression technology that has drawn fire from the music industry, got a big boost when rocker Tom Petty made free downloads of his latest single available online in the format.

Petty’s song, “Free Girl Now,” was posted Monday at MP3.com, a Web site that offers thousands of songs stored in the format. The access is tied to the April 13 debut of Petty’s latest release, “Echo.”

The nod by Petty gives MP3 a significant affirmation at a time when the music industry is becoming deeply divided over its use as a distribution method.

To reconcile the sides, the Recording Industry Association of America has launched the Secure Digital Music Initiative, a task force of music executives and technology companies that is developing standards for the digital distribution of music over the Internet.

Petty is perhaps the best-known musician to jump on the MP3 bandwagon, joining such artists as the Beastie Boys.

MP3 works by compressing music into data bits that can be easily downloaded to computer hard drives via free software. The music can then be played back at near-CD quality. Consumer electronics companies have recently rolled out portable, Walkman-like devices that enable listeners to tape copies and play the free music anywhere.

While there are several music compression formats available on the Internet, MP3 has become the de facto standard for Web-based music distribution because of a small underground network of people who illegally have taken entire albums and uploaded them onto Internet sites, available for anyone to download.

That development, coupled with the handheld players, concerns the music industry, which fears it could lose millions of dollars in potential royalties.

But artists such as Petty appear to have decided that since MP3 is already up and running, the toothpaste is out of the tube.