Part iTunes, part mp3.com, and part validation for the Bitpass micropayment system, Mperia went live this week.

From the FAQ:

While the "we're rebels because we say we're rebels" language is a bit over the top, I think the concept is great, and I hope it does well. Music catalog at this point is fairly limited, but hell, the site is still in beta. Just look at it as being that much easier to find the good stuff. Of the current selection, I'd say Gates of Hell by local band Darby O'Gill and the Little People and Human by local blogger and Mperia dev Josh Ellis are standouts. Yeah, Vegas representin'. Werd.

If you're a musician, go register an artist account and upload your songs. It couldn't hurt, and you'd make Scott McCloud awfully happy.

Some suggestions for the Mperia crew...

Ratings are great, but I want to do more with them. I want be able to say, find the top rated songs within Rock > Industrial, or within the entire Electronic category, or even the top rated songs period. Make finding high rated songs easily accessible, and you'll raise the chances that someone venturing across the site will find themselves with good music quickly, in any genre.

The design of the site is fine, but it does look a bit barren on larger monitors. Personally, I'd center and contain the page, using that blue on the bottom as a surrounding color, but that's just me. The logo should link to home.

On artist pages, why not list the artist name in the page title? It'd make referencing bookmarks a hell of a lot easier.

Search is good, but we need to be able to change the sort order when browsing the results, perhaps by title, artist, price, and rating. Open searches (highest rated, cheapest songs, etc) would help.

Local bands. Local bands.

What I'd love to see you guys do next, once you find yourselves soaked in capital: How bout a Launch for the indie scene?