A report in New Media Age tells that the online electronics retailer will start its music service in October. It’s, indeed, quite delightful for music labels who consider that Apple’s iTunes service has a monopoly on web music downloads.

On yesterday, 7 digital announced that it has become the first online store in the UK to offer 100% MP3 tracks for UK audience. In a statement, 7digital’s CEO said that he was happy about Amazon joining of the music download brigade as it would help to open up the MP3 market.

“Now people will definitely have more to decide on instead of 800 pound Apple’s iTunes gorilla.”

It is interesting to note that NMA also tells that they are under good authority to mention that MySpace Music couldn’t reach the UK by the early next year.

This new ad-funded music service from Amazon would feature free downloads and streamed music tracks from Amazon. Currently, three major music labels can be seen on board while EMI is in the negotiations stage still.

These small items proved difficult to protect before this technology came about as they had to remain small and the traditional bulky waterproofing methods was simply not viable. This new technology, known as ion-mask, creates a protective layer over virtually any material that is just nanometres thick and it works even with the intricate parts of the electronics that are the circuit boards and processors without causing any damage. This form of protection is achieved via the means of an ionised gas, or “plasma”.

What this coating does is that it causes water to bounce off like beads, such as can be seen on already existing waterproof material. The ion-mask does this by decreasing the surface energy of the material that it coats, which prevents the bonds water molecules from being disrupted as easily as it usually would. Due to how thin the layer is, it is hardly visible and this allows the material to retain all its physical features, such as color, texture and the feel.

Further ahead, this technology can be applied to create completely waterproof electronics that can be used in the shower or even underwater. Products such as mp3 players and headphones could use this technology to allow us to do things in places where electronics could not be used before due to the danger of water damage.

Leading manufacturers were amazed at this new technology when it was demonstrated to them, and many are now considering using ion-mask to enhance the durability and performance of their products.