MTV and Microsoft have announced a joint digital music service that will launch in 2006, offering the ability to purchase songs individually or as part of a music subscription service, MediaWeek writes. The service, dubbed Urge, will compete with iTunes and other services such as Napster and Rhapsody. MTV will fully unveil the service during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.

While details on pricing and products are still few, Urge users will have access to original Urge content and MTV programming.

Urge will be available via an upcoming version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The Urge website is up, but currently shows only a logo and the line "Coming soon."