The new claims to offer unrivalled sound quality, with its tunes encoded at a higher quality audio rate than Apple's iTunes and Napster -- 192kbps, 64kbps higher than the average online store.
It will also run on Microsoft's Windows Media format, allowing users to listen to songs on more than 70 different portable music players.
Gareth Sutcliffe, senior business manager of the Windows Digital Media division at Microsoft, said: "Music fans want to be able to enjoy the tracks they download anytime, anywhere. Because Tesco.com is using the Windows Media audio format, its customers can choose a huge range of portable music players. Meanwhile iTunes users are restricted to a single device."
Tesco.com will offer users more than 500,000 tunes at a flat rate of 79p for a single track.
"Our new service will simply offer the best quality for the lowest price," Laura Wede Gery, Tesco.com chief executive, said. "As the price of portable digital music players fall, customers will demand more choice. That is what we're delivering."
Cable & Wireless, the IT and communications company, will provide the new music download service via a secure C&W digital platform.
Mark Quartermaine, UK director of marketing and services at C&W, said: "The demand for music downloads in the UK continues unabated, and we're confident that the combination of Tesco's reputation for service and our digital media infrastructure will provide an unbeatable customer experience."
The Tesco.com download store also has a beginner's guide with a jargon buster to help shoppers downloading for the first time.
Boosted by sales of the iPod, Apple's iTunes is the current market leader. However, the service has been challenged in the US by RealNetworks, which halved the price of its downloads to boost its share of the market.
Apple is also being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading for possible breaches of EU competition rules after charging UK consumers more than users in France and Germany.
Elsewhere, Microsoft announced last week that it was doubling its presence in the European online market by launching its MSN Music Service in seven more countries.
Earlier this year, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the entrepreneur behind EasyJet, announced the Easy brand was entering the online music market with EasyMusic, a service which he says will rival the likes of Apple's iTunes and Napster. Woolworths has also got in on the act in the UK.
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