IN BRIEF

NEW YORK

Verizon to offer music subscription service

Cell phones are becoming more useful devices for listening to music.

Verizon Wireless is introducing Rhapsody's subscription music service today, allowing its customers to download as much music as they want to their phones for $15 per month.

The service will work with seven current handsets and three to be launched soon, including the third version of the popular music-oriented LG Chocolate.

The wireless arm of AT&T Inc. has a similar subscription arrangement with Napster Inc.

In a related announcement, Rhapsody said it is getting rid of copy protection on all tracks bought from its online music store. Beginning today, customers can buy music in the MP3 format, which will play on practically any music gadget, including iPods.

Rhapsody is following in the tracks of Napster, Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Amazon.com Inc., all of which have introduced MP3 downloads and moved away from digital rights management, or DRM, which prevents copying and piracy, but also makes it difficult to legally move music between devices.

Rhapsody is a joint venture of RealNetworks Inc. and Viacom Inc. through its MTV subsidiary.

NEW YORK

Goldman Sachs names

billionaire to board

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Sunday that billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has been elected as an independent director at the world's largest investment bank.

Mittal, who is chairman and chief executive of the world's largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal SA, joined Goldman Sachs' 13-member board Saturday and will serve on its Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance and Nominating committees.

"Lakshmi Mittal has reshaped a global industry and, in the process, has engineered new modes of production, identified unrealized value and sparked remarkable growth," Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a written statement. "He has a keen understanding of the global economy, having operated in virtually every corner of the world."

Mittal founded Mittal Steel Co. in 1976 and served as CEO of Mittal Steel until 2006.

MADRID, Spain

Qatar says it won't increase oil output

Qatar doesn't plan to follow Saudi Arabia's lead in increasing crude oil roduction because supplies are adequate, its oil minister said Sunday.

"I never heard any panic about a shortage of supply, just about the high price," Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told Bloomberg in an interview in Madrid. "We see in the market there are lots of cargoes."

Qatar, the third-smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, joins oil-producing nations the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in declining to increase output at a time when record crude oil prices are fueling global inflation.