NOKIA`s online music store will finally go live in Australia on April 22 after several delays.It will offer tracks for $1.70, albums for $17, and live streaming to subscribers who pay $10 a month. There is no cap on the streaming.
Nokia will offer users the option to download music on selected phones or using its yet-to-be-launched website. It expects most users will use their PCs to download the tunes.
The system and music servers, in London and Singapore, are smart enough to realise if the user has paid for and downloaded a track onto a phone and will allow the same track to be downloaded to the user`s PC.
The local pricing is in line with Nokia`s UK music store which opened for business on November 1 last year asking 80p for a track and 8 pounds for an album.
The tracks are downloaded as 192Kbps audio in Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. Users will need Windows Media Player 11. Some older tracks may be offered at 128Kbps, the bit rate they were converted to.
The files will incorporate Windows digital rights management, the so-called DRM software that is meant to prevent copyright piracy.
A Nokia Music PC client is due to be available in the second half of the year.
Nokia has signed up with three of the four major labels: Universal Music Australia, Sony BMG Music Entertainment Australia and EMI.
Nokia was in discussions with Warner Music Australia, said Karen Farrugia, music service manager for Nokia in Australia and New Zealand.
The service would not be available for New Zealand users in the near future, she said.
The service was not open to the public at press time. The site, music.nokia.com.au, will go live next Tuesday.
A beta version was shown to the media at a low-key launch in Sydney this morning. The site is busy enough to offer a lot of options but uncluttered enough to be simple to navigate.
Nokia Music Stores are also available in Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Singapore.
The Australian Nokia Music Store label line-up includes: Alberts, AmpHead, Blue Pie Productions, Creative Vibes, Dew Process, Eleven, EMI Music, Future Classic, Hillsong, Illusive, Inertia, Invada Records, IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance), Ivy League, Liberation, Liberator, MGM Distribution, Modular, Obese Records, Odessa Mama, Red Label, Roadshow Music, Shock Entertainment, Sony BMG, The Orchard, Universal Music, and Xelon Entertainment.
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Stuart KennedyDOES anyone really know - apart from Stephen Conroy and Telstra - how many people are still clinging to the tried and true CDMA mobile network?
