MySpace to buy largest Facebook app, iLike

The company behind the most popular application on Facebook is set to be acquired by the 'book's largest rival, MySpace.

Music discovery service iLike has announced it has agreed a deal to be bought by MySpace for a rumoured fee of $20m, reports the BBC. The company is quick to point out, however, that the "iLike.com Web site and applications will continue to operate as they always have".

We dropped iLike an email to ask specifically whether Facebook users should be concerned about the company's app vanishing from the MySpace rival's site, but we're yet to hear back.

iLke claims to have over 50 million registered members. Users post their favourite songs to their account, which then appear on their social network homepages for friends to discover and have a listen to. The MySpace acquisition, iLike says, will simply result in this service becoming "even more powerful".

The deal shouldn't surprise anyone. MySpace, which places a massive focus on promoting bands and music, is suffering from enormous competition from Facebook. iLike's traffic, however, has been steadily increasing for the last year.

"Good job on selling out"

But one commenter on iLike's official blog is dis-chuffed to say the least. "The second you linked with the worthless waste of space called MySpace was the second I am cancelling my account," he wrote, with anger evidently hindering his ability to correctly format a sentence. "Good job on selling out, I hope you go toes up along with MySpace."

In related news, the company also announced it's testing an MP3 download service. If you discover a song on iLike, you can buy it from iLike. Why this hasn't happened sooner remains a mystery.

What do you think about the acquisition? Feel free to vent your concerns in the comments below.