Will allow consumers to download an unlimited number of music tracks to their cell phones for about 3 euros ($4 USD) a week.
Trying to get a jump start on the soon to be released Apple iPhone to be released on June 29th, the UK-based Omniphone has announced the launch of anew service called MusicStation that will allow cell phone users to download an unlimited number of of music tracks for about 2.99 euros a week ($3.99 USD).
Consumers will initially be limited to listening to tracks through their cell phones as Omnifone bans users from transferring music to computers, MP3 players or other portable media players but, the company says it will soon launch a parallel PC version.
Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International, said, “It’s hard to imagine a more compelling music experience on mobile than MusicStation. It works on almost any phone, giving consumers the freedom to choose whatever device they want. It allows downloads wherever those consumers are, providing the freedom to access music whenever they want. And it gives users unlimited access to our and other labels’ catalogues, all for a fixed weekly fee that includes data. We welcome its rollout today and look forward to the other rollouts that are due.”
In addition to Universal Music Group, Omnifone has also signed content deals three other major music groups including Sony/BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI Group.
Matthew Crosswaite, Vice President of Business Development at EMI Music said, “We want to make sure that fans can always access music by EMI’s artists quickly and easily, wherever they happen to be. The MusicStation subscription service gives consumers a new way of doing that, and we are very pleased to be working with Omnifone to reach millions of subscribers around the world through their mobile phone.”
Omnifone also confirms that it has secured a wide selection of independent and localized content in many key territories from independent labels and distributors including Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and VidZone Digital Media.
“MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music. Hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers worldwide will soon gain the ultimate music freedom – the ability to download and play unlimited amounts of music, wherever they are, through a fantastic easy-to-use digital music experience, which works on almost any phone,” said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone.
He added, “Consumers will have the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from an international and localised music catalogue, supported by the whole music industry, all for a small weekly fee. MusicStation users can download music, wherever they are, at any time and with no charge for data.”
Downloaded MusicStation tracks and user playlists will be stored centrally so that if a users cell phone is stolen, lost or upgraded, the replacement handset will automatically restore the user’s music, playlists, friends and preferences the first time MusicStation is switched on. Also, it will run on all 2.5G and 3G music compatible phones.
MusicStation users will be able to:
- Discover the MusicStation Play Charts (tracks that are being played the most, rather than purely purchased or downloaded, the most)
- Access playlists created by other MusicStation users;
- Use collaborative filtering and nearest-neighbour technology to identify new tracks, artists, albums and other users that are likely to be of interest;
- Publish playlists for other users to access, and achieve a ‘cool’ status based on their popularity;
- Message other consumers, sending recommended tracks, albums, playlists and messages;
- Receive music news, gig dates, single and album releases and messages from artists, automatically personalised based on what music the consumer listens to the most frequently.
Omnifone Chief Executive has said that it would take between one and 15 seconds to download a track and that phones could store between 100 and a few thousand depending on the phone.
“We believe that by providing consumers with the ultimate music freedom of unlimited access to music, wherever a user is, on whatever phone they buy, MusicStation is delivering the most compelling consumer proposition in digital music today,” Omnifone’s Lewis said.
The service will be much like Rhapsody and other PC-oriented music subscription services in that tracks will be playable so long as the customer pays the weekly fee which is simply added to their cell phone bill.
At around $16 USD bucks months a month, I don’t that the service will be that popular, especially considering you never actually own anything. P2P anyone?
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Omnifone_launches_music_subscription_service_for_European_cell_phone_users’;
Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
UK Indie Music Execs to hold File-Sharing summit
3 Quick Ways to Watch Movies for FREE!
3 Quick ways to watch TV shows for FREE
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More, On-Demand For Free
Related Posts
- Service lets Skype users chat on cell phones
- Sony BMG Developing Music Subscription Service
- Peer-to-peer in the cell phone industry?
- Bell Canada launches downloadable music service
- Watch cable TV on your cell phone? Soon.
Loading ...
