Ananova:

Coca-Cola's foray into the world of online music sales got off to a bad start when its website failed to launch.

Users who visited mycokemusic.com expecting to access its 250,000 tracks were left disappointed. The site still carries the banner "mycokemusic.com goes live on Monday 19th January" across the screen.

Technical glitches were blamed for the failure. A spokeswoman for the site said: "We have been experiencing some minor technical problems. We are confident it will be up and running by tonight.

"People who have entered their details will be emailed a link to the site as soon as it goes live. We just want to get everything perfect - although obviously we had hoped to get it done before the launch day."

It is something of an embarrassment for the soft drinks giant, which had trumpeted its move into the music download market. The website offers albums for download for as little as £6.40, and singles from 80p.

Described as "the first consumer branded, legitimate downloadable music site", it features more than 250,000 new and old tracks.

The company says it will be the largest collection of legal downloads on the net. The site is supported by the British Phonographic Industry, which aims to crack down on illegal file-sharing.