Tom Petty yanks mp3

Is there an Echo in here? On March 1 Tom Petty made his new single ''Free Girl Now'' available on MP3.com, the controversial website that offers near-CD-quality downloadable music for free. Two days later the song vanished from the site, and no one connected would say why. The mystery went unsolved until April 13, when Petty appeared on Letterman and admitted Warner Bros. Records had given him ''a casual elbow in the ribs to [say], 'Maybe you shouldn't do this, Tom.''' A Warner spokesman, meanwhile, claims it was Petty's decision to pull the song and says the company ''did not instruct, cajole, or demand that Tom remove that track.'' A spokesman for Petty refused to respond. Such tugs-o'-war are becoming de rigueur for rebel rockers: The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Billy Idol have all fought with their companies over MP3s and lost. Or have they? MP3 files can easily be copied and passed around without degrading the sound quality, and since more than 150,000 people grabbed Petty's song before it disappeared, there are dozens of black-market sites where ''Free Girl Now'' remains free — for now.