Three major record labels have denied signing deals allowing their music to feature on a new file-sharing service offering unlimited free downloads.

The service, Qtrax, boasted it would carry up to 30 million tracks from "all the major labels".

But Warner, EMI and Universal all say they have not licensed their music.

Qtrax said it expected an agreement to be reached with Warner and that terms had been agreed with the others even if deals had not been formally signed.

Mobile phone users are downloading data at increasing rates with Verizon Wireless attracting the highest level of interest, according to a report released Tuesday by IDC.

In all, the 230 million wireless subscribers in the United States bought a total of $4.1 billion in data services in the third quarter of 2006.

"Our research found that at $7.27 spent per-customer on data services in 3Q06, Verizon Wireless became the new market leader among the national operators, eclipsing Sprint Nextel, the long-time leader in this metric at $7.15," said IDC's Julien Blin. The two leading firms employ CDMA technology.

Blin, who is research analyst for IDC's Wireless and Mobile Communications program, said Verizon leads in total wireless data revenue, data percentage of average revenue per user (ARPU), and data spending. However, Sprint and other national carriers pace the market in some selected service offerings.

US music lovers downloaded 20 million tracks from firms including iTunes and Napster in the seven days between Christmas and the New Year, according to tracking firm Neilson SoundScan.

The figure more than doubles the existing record of 9.5 million set the previous week, and is three times the figure for the same period a year ago.

TiVo has struck a deal with the Independent Film Channel to transmit several of the cable channel's shows through a broadband connection as part of a trial program. Participating customers will begin receiving the shows next week, said TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane.

Sloan confirmed that TiVo sent messages to its customers - later posted on the technology Web log Engadget.com - offering to transmit three IFC shows beginning Aug. 19, before they aired on the cable channel.