What a topsy-turvy world we live in. First Sony starts to sue everyone and everything seems like it might have been involved in music downloads at one point in the past 5 years, now it dives into bed with We7, the site offering absolutely free music. Sony has pledged to allow its entire back cat to be made available for free, streaming music on the website. This is great news for fans of free music.

The irony of this move cannot be lost on Sony BMG. But it appears that one of the big industry players has come to realize the importance of music downloads in tomorrow’s music industry. Whether the other big players will reluctantly follow remains to be seen.

These are interesting times for music lovers: mobile provider 02 has announced a partnership with music download giant Napster, who are also in talks with Vodafone. 24-7 Entertainment is preparing to launch unlimited mobile music downloads for a Nordic provider. All these movements point to a shift in the attitude of big business – a shift in the right direction, finally – and one that could profoundly affect the future of music downloads.