Miles never sounded so good.
United Airlines and Sony Connect Inc. today
officially launched Sony Connect(TM) and MileagePlusMusic.com, the
first-ever opportunity for frequent flier members of any major carrier to
earn and redeem miles for online music. To launch the new services, Sheryl
Crow is performing today onboard a United Airlines flight from Chicago to
Los Angeles. Select tracks from Crow’s performance will be available for
download at http://www.connect.com/ later this month.
“Mileage Plus(R) members can now use the miles in their account to
purchase music—a first for any frequent flier program,” said Martin
White, senior vice president - Marketing. “We’re proud to partner with
Sony, the industry leader in music and electronics, to encourage legal
downloading, and to provide our passengers with another benefit to joining
Mileage Plus. Sheryl’s performance on United takes Mileage Plus to brand
new heights—literally and figuratively.”

“Our partnership with United Airlines enables millions of Mileage Plus
members a great way to connect with their favorite artists and music,”
said Jay Samit, General Manager, Sony Connect Inc. “We hope through this
relationship that we are able to introduce Mileage Plus’ 44 million
members to the Connect music store.”

Today’s event also celebrates the launch of Hi-MD(TM) Walkman(R) digital
music players. With Hi-MD technology, users can record up to 45 hours of
music at up to 100 times transfer speed on one disc, while still enjoying
the extensive battery life, compact design and robustness for which MD
players are recognized. Removable, re-recordable Hi-MD media provides
music lovers with unlimited storage capacity to build an infinite library
of their favorite songs. Four new Hi-MD recorders will be available in
June and are expected to range in price from about $200 to $400.

All Mileage Plus members will be eligible to redeem miles for music at
http://www.mileageplusmusic.com/ and http://www.connect.com/ . Members can
purchase music in two ways:

  —10,000 miles for 100 tracks ($.99 tracks only)
  —10,000 miles for 10 Albums ($9.99 albums only)

p>To begin redeeming miles for music, members should go to
http://www.mileageplusmusic.com/ , where they will receive a “coupon code”
after entering their Mileage Plus number. Members can then go to the
Connect web site ( http://www.connect.com/ ), download the SonicStage
software application to their computer, visit the Connect music store via
the application, enter the code and begin redeeming their miles for music.
MileagePlusMusic.com also has links to allow non-members to join Mileage
Plus.

Mileage Plus Visa(R) cardholders will be eligible to earn double miles
(e.g., 2 miles for every $1 spent at Sony Style and 40 miles for every $20
spent at the Connect music store) from Visa(R) with qualifying purchases
of music or Sony products through Sonystyle.com, Sony Style stores (8
stores in major cities), or the Connect music store.
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