Verizon Wireless is eliminating the monthly $15 fee for its music download service in conjunction with the launch of a cell phone featuring an iPod-like click wheel and a memory card that can hold up to 1,000 songs.
The new “Chocolate” handset, made by LG Electronics Inc. of Korea, features software that will let users play their own MP3-format music on the device in addition to songs purchased from Verizon’s music store — avoiding the mini-controversy that accompanied the launch of that service early this year.
The company is charging $150 for the phone with a new two-year contract, and an additional $100 to buy an insertable mini-storage card that can hold 2-gigabits of music or other files such as photos.
Songs purchased from the V Cast Music store, priced at $1.99 each, can be downloaded twice: once over the cellular network to the phone, and once over the Internet to a computer.
