[getti]

Orange today announced the launch of the UK’s first web integrated mobile music download service. The service allows management, storage and preview of tracks from the Orange Music catalogue, and enables the transfer of digital music (e.g. MP3) from PCs to Orange phones. The new music service, available on 1st November, is being launched across the Orange range of 11 ‘great for music’ handsets including three 3G handsets for super fast download, all of which are priced from £free on contract.

“Further to Strategy Analytics’ wireless benchmark survey, which placed Music Player as the best in class service in the UK, we have taken feedback from all areas to enhance our service even further,” said Mark Ashford, head of music, Orange UK. “We have listened to critics and consumers alike and introduced web based previewing, storing, managing and purchasing of music. The new Music Player features are a huge leap forward in mobile music delivery and web integration, and demonstrate our commitment to pushing the boundaries of mobile music experience. We want to demonstrate a total music experience for our customers. You have to ask the question, why buy a separate music device this Christmas, when everything you need is on an Orange phone?”

For the full info head over to www.todayon3g.co.uk

[Ben]

What about the quality of the tracks, Orange? How about spending £1.50 on a track that doesn't make the listeners ears bleed?

Babysteps.

[getti]

I find the quality ok for now. I mean it's not going to replace my ipod or anything, but it would be nice if they were as good as vodafone's music service.

[Hands0n]

Is there really any excuse, in this day and age, for the encoding of music audio to be anything less than pristine? Or at least as close as MP3 or AAC allows such things! I'm getting more and more put off Orange for my [future] 3G supplier as I see the list of yuks increase!

[Ben]

I emailed them today after reading this announcement (again...). It's surely a case of priorities - they're pushing a half-baked cake. One has to wonder what on earth is wrong with Mark Ashford's ears.

[3GScottishUser]

More about the above from The Register:

Orange takes on the iPod, again

So are music downloads via mobile phones taking off in the UK? Well yes and no. While some networks seem to now be only offering a half-baked service, others are going from strength to strength. Orange today has announced a few little tweaks to its music download system Music Player which should help make life a bit easier for its users.

The big news is the Orange Music Converter, a rather nifty bit of software for your PC which enables users to convert tracks they have stored on their PC's hard disk into the AAC+ format which is compatible with the Orange Music Player. It works with MP3s and WMAs, but obviously not DRM-ed WMA and AAC tracks downloaded from Napster, iTunes et al. The reason you might want to do this is that the AAC+ tracks take up just 700k of space on a storage card as opposed to 3/4MB of a full MP3 track. So your 512MB SD card instantly now holds the same as a two Gig card would if loaded with MP3s. There is obviously a slight trade off in terms of sound quality though not as much as you might think. Probably the best comparison is MP3 at 96kbps. From now on users will also be able control the tracks they have downloaded via Orange (they start at £1 a shot) using a web page. The page lists the tracks they currently own and enables the user to take the music to and from their mobile. Even if their handset is stolen they can automatically transfer the tracks they have paid for to their next phone.

Orange also let on that it was currently looking at the two hard disk based phones – the Nokia N91 and the Samsung SGH-i300 and that Orange subscribers might be able to take delivery of them in the New Year. The Music Player is currently compatible with eleven phones, though Orange has promised to roll it out to cheaper, more youth-oriented handsets next year.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/21/orange_takes_on_ipod/