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Alistair Mitchell, the head of online music store Puretracks Inc., describes Apple Inc.'s grip on the song downloading market as "the tyranny of the device."

Because Apple's iPod devices represent more than 70 per cent of the portable music player market -- and they are designed specifically to play the three billion songs sold through Apple's iTunes online music store -- the company's place atop the industry is almost impenetrable.

But Mr. Mitchell's company is looking to invade Apple's turf starting this week.

Toronto-based Puretracks has signed a deal with Britain's EMI Group PLC to offer the record label's catalogue of songs for sale online, without any restrictions on what type of device it can be played on.

Though the agreement represents just one major record label, it makes Puretracks the first online music store in North America outside of iTunes to offer songs that are compatible with all digital music players - including iPods.

Until now, the reluctance of record labels to lift restrictions on their songs that prevent them from being downloaded to multiple devices has shut online music stores out of Apple's share of the market.

Without "interoperability," the industry term for devices that can play songs from several different formats, download services that use Windows Media, as Puretracks has in the past, are not compatible with Apple's system.

But Puretracks and EMI will now sell songs under the MP3 format, which is universal, rather than under the Windows Media format.

"It is breaking down the doors to be able to deliver a major label catalogue in an entirely interoperable fashion," Mr. Mitchell said.

The deal will cover EMI artists such as Interpol, Coldplay, and Norah Jones, costing $1.29 a song.

Mr. Mitchell expects the move will drive more traffic to the service, which should prompt other music labels to follow suit. "The broader question is why wouldn't others want to adopt this format," he said.

Puretracks sells online music under its own service, while providing support for other online stores, such as Telus, Bell Sympatico and Future Shop. Puretracks is majority owned by Montreal-based BCE Inc., which holds a 15-per-cent stake in CTVglobemedia, parent company of The Globe and Mail.