Just a week ago, [1] SpiralFrog signed a similar agreement with Universal Music Group which allows their users to download free music. As a result, SpiralFrog can now provide US visitors free access to all of the music from two of the world’s biggest publishers.

It is not yet known whether the EMI deal is also a two-year agreement as is the case with Universal. However, by December US residents will be able to download music from the likes of U2, Gwen Stefani, Sting, Pink Floyd and many more of the world’s biggest selling musical artists.

There are two drawbacks to this agreements. As I said in the past news, the music you will download can be played on computers using Windows Media Player because of its DRM but you won’t be able to play it on your iPod. This means that if you have a PlayForSure compatible mp3 player, you will be able to use these files. Considering that Microsoft’s upcoming Zune will use the same DRM it’s very possible that SpiralFrog downloads will also be compatible with Zune.

Second, the files you download can’t be burned onto a CD or DVD. So don’t get your hopes too high.

All this free music is hurting iTunes because in the end, people will stop buying iPods and will stop downloading music from iTunes and somehow Apple will have to switch this business to another type, maybe to free music but with a paid subscription.