[Ben]

http://www.ovum.com/news/euronews.asp?id=3316


Yesterday, 3G UK mobile operator 3 announced that it is launching a dual download music service, whereby customers who download a music track to their mobiles will be able to access and download the same track to their PC over the Internet. Users are sent an SMS when they download the track over-the-air (OTA), which contains a PIN number allowing them to access the track online, they can then play it, transfer it to an MP3 player or burn it to CD. 3 is keeping the same charge of £1.50 per full track.

Pretty damn fantastic if you ask me! It's about time this started to happen. Buying a song on Napster and then buying it again on Orange Music Player, for example, just isn't the answer. However, being able to buy on your mobile and then obtain a copy that works on yoru PC and MP3 player also is spot on.

[3GScottishUser]

A small step forward.

You can download most tracks on MSN Music for 69p and transfer them your your mobile with Media Player 10.

3 and the others are going to have to rethink pricing to make mobile downloads attractive.

[Ben]

AFAIK MS DRM tracks can only be played on devices compatible with MS DRM. Handsets running Windows Mobile would be ok, but you can't just transfer a MS DRM track onto any old mobile phone and play it. As a Napster user I sure wish you could!

So, £1.50 for a song that you can then use on your mobile, your PC, burn to CD and transfer to (I assume) MS DRM compatible devices is a pretty big move. Yes the price isn't fantastic, but mobility comes at a price and at least on 3 the data charge of obtaining the track is included.

[3GScottishUser]

Oh Well if it's that complicated I doubt if I'll be bothering with any of the mobile downloads as we all know there are much simpler ways of getting music onto our MP-3 devices and phones.

The music industry are going to have to make this whole area a lot simpler or they will miss out as a whole new generation will use 'other' methods to achieve their requirements.

I cant imagine many paying what the mobile companies charge for music unless its a spur of the moment 'impulse' purchace whilst travelling perhaps.