British Internet broadband provider Virgin Media has announced a deal with the Universal Music Group, one of the biggest record companies in the world, which involves launching an unlimited music download service. Virgin Media customers will be able to download any song or album in the Universal catalog for an additional monthly fee.

Online piracy has seriously crippled the business of record companies over the past decade and they have long claimed that it is getting out of control. Meanwhile, the public has argued that the music giants are not flexible enough and are unable to adapt to the new distribution medium that is the Internet. This latest deal, which is the first of its kind, promises to be a game changer.

The new service will enable Virgin Media broadband subscribers to get unlimited access to the music of the artists signed up by Universal, for the added cost of a few albums a month. The fee is actually expected to be somewhere between $16 and $25. The access involves downloading songs in MP3 format, as well as streaming them.

The MP3 files will not only be available for playing on the computer, but it will also be perfectly legal to copy them onto music players and other portable devices. In addition, if, at one point, a user cancels their subscription, they will still retain a license to use the already downloaded MP3 files.

In exchange to all the music in the Universal catalog, Virgin Media pledges to help fight online piracy and enforce various punishments for such offenders. These can range from restricting their bandwith or entirely suspending their Internet access, in case of repeated abuse.

Virgin also plans to offer cheaper limited versions of this new service, for people who are skeptical and want to try it out before paying for unlimited access, or for individuals who are not heavy downloaders. If the service is a success, the company hopes to strike similar deals with other record companies and make their catalogs available as well.

"In terms of both convenience and value, our new music service will be superior to anything that's available online today and provides a fair deal for both consumers and artists," Neil Berkett, Virgin Media's CEO, said about this new iTunes Store or Amazon MP3 competitor.