eBay's foray into the digital music download arena is a bust so far, with no users yet taking advantage of the new auction service.

Last month, eBay announced that it would be conducting a digital music pilot program by allowing an unspecified number of "pre-approved" users to conduct digital music transactions in eBay's new "Digital Downloads" category for the next 180 days. Although it is still early in the trial period, the new category has yet to find one taker.

The announcement of the trial was a turnabout for the on-line auction site, which previously banned digital music sales, in addition to other forbidden merchandise, such as human corpses, weapons and drugs. The company still forbids most digital content downloads, including software, peer-to-peer video and e-books.

Observers say the problem could be the auction paradigm itself. So far, on-line music sites like Apple's iTunes and Wal-Mart's on-line store sell songs for less than a dollar a piece. With prices already so low, the need for an auction site for on-line music may just not be there.