Infinitive Splitter

I’m back! With huge, breaking news!

SpiralFrog, a new music download service, on Tuesday said it would make Vivendi’s Universal Music Group’s catalog available for free legal downloading in the United States and Canada.

The new advertising-supported service, due to launch later this year, joins the ranks of rivals battling for a piece of the digital music market in the shadow of Apple Computer Inc’s dominant iTunes music store.

New York-based SpiralFrog said it would offer users of its free, Web-based service the ability to legally download music of Universal’s roster, which includes U2, Gwen Stefani and The Roots.

“Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,” SpiralFrog Chief Executive Robin Kent said in a statement.

Kent said SpiralFrog’s business model is based on sharing income from advertising with content partners like Universal.

Finally, a way to get music for free!

In other recent entertainment news:

• Little Miss Sunshine and Invincible are the feel-goodest movies I’ve seen in a very long time. See them both as soon as you can.
• Middle Distance Runner and the Black Tie Revue played excellent sets at Velvet Lounge on Saturday. See either of these bands for a good time, anytime. See them together when you can for extra-special magic.
• On Entourage, firing Ari was an unbelievable waste of an episode. Not because omigod Ari is their friend and they need him and he rules, but because Jeremy Piven is the only person on the show worth watching. I can’t imagine many people are tuning in to see Adrian Grenier.
• The Wilson Bridge demolition was a total disappointment. My associates and I watched from the Washington Street bridge, which the police officers on the scene told us would offer the best view. From there we enjoyed an hour-and-a-sweaty-half of waiting, during which the hooligans in the crowd passed time by inventing uninventive chants (like “blow it up!”) and castigating Maryland for — as it appeared to the crowd — delaying the demolition by failing to stop the flow of traffic on its end of the new, parallel Wilson bridge. At 12:30 the crowd counted down from about six, the bridge went BOOM bang-bang-bang-bang BOOM, the smoke and dust began to rise, and we all started walking back toward our cars.

Next time: a separate update for each half-formed idea!