Cingular Wireless this week launched Cingular Music, which gives subscribers access to music from popular online sites like Napster, Yahoo! Music, XM Satellite Radio and eMusic.
The mobile music service follows in the footsteps of Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Music service and Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Music Store offerings, launched last year, which allow over-the-air downloads of songs to the handset.
But the No. 1 wireless provider says its offering is differentiated by its sheer breadth and ease of use.
"Cingular Music is our answer to a fragmented marketplace that until now has not fully taken into account the user experience," said Jim Ryan, vice president of consumer data services, Cingular. "Music has become such an integral part of our lives and many consumers want a simple and integrated mobile music experience that gives them access to all things music -- including songs, videos, news, data and information. With Cingular Music, we are offering our customers one-click access to their music, their way.”
Cingular has teamed with XM Satellite Radio to offer mobile access to audio streams of 25 commercial-free music channels, for $8.99 per month.
As for the actual song-download service, Cingular is taking a unique approach. Unlike V CAST, which converts MP3s to a special format for play on the phone, Cingular allows users to play songs in standard MP3 format and thus seamlessly link with a user’s existing music library, transferring tracks back and forth.
However, the service does not allow over-the-air downloads and users must plug into a PC to “sideload” their songs.
Another difference is V CAST and Sprint act as aggregators of music, combining millions of songs into a storefront. Users download songs to their phones and, if they wish, their PCs, for a set price per song, anywhere from $1.99 to $2.99. Cingular is extending user access to existing music services into a mobile environment. The operator has teamed with Microsoft Corp. to incorporate Windows Media Digital Rights Management into handsets to enable the functionality.
• A subscription for $14.95 a month allows customers to connect their phones to their PCs and download tracks from Napster. Users can also access Napster Mobile to browse the entire Napster catalog, listen to 30-second samples, rate songs and recommend music picks with friends. While there is no OTA download, consumers can use the handset to buy songs and send them to the PC for side-loading later.
• Another plan starts at $11.99 per month and gives customers access to Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go, including the ability to side-load songs from the PC. Meanwhile, Yahoo! Music for Mobile lets users, on their mobile handsets, browse the Yahoo! Music catalog for album, artist and song content as well as receive personalized music recommendations and remotely add songs to their PC libraries. Free to all Yahoo! Music users is the Yahoo! Music Jukebox, a digital music player that allows consumers, from their PC, to play, rip and burn MP3s and CDs, share playlists, listen to LAUNCHcast Radio, and transfer music seamlessly to mobile devices.
• Another offer is for consumers who purchase a Sony Ericsson W810i or Sony Ericsson W300i. They receive a free "in-box" offer to side-load up to 50 songs from eMusic's catalog of 2 million tracks. Consumers can transfer eMusic's MP3 tracks to multiple devices and burn them to a CD.
To accompany the actual song side-load service, Cingular has wrapped several other music-oriented applications into the portfolio.
• Music Player: Users can access the phone's entire catalog of music, create their own playlists and have songs played in random order.
• MusicID: Cingular's music recognition service, which analyzes songs among a database of more than 3 million. When identified it provides the name of the artist and the track. If the song matches an available ringtone, users can purchase it without having to spend time searching. Users can also purchase that song from the handset by directly linking into the Napster library where the song can later be side-loaded.
• Music Videos: The music videos folder provides a direct link to Cingular's video offerings, including video content from MTV Networks' MTV, VH1 and CMT music brands; Warner Music (Music Choice); as well as original video footage from Cingular Sounds Live concert series.
• The Buzz: The Buzz gives access to Billboard Mobile, for music and entertainment news, Billboard charts and local concert information.
• Community: Comprised of artist fan sites and chat rooms, the community folder is where music fans can connect with others who share similar interests. It allows the sharing of music and reviews within a particular community (via SMS or IM) and the ability to listen to music from artists' sites.
• Music Apps: This folder is home to Mobilcast, a podcasting service, and Hip Hop Official, a music video application.
Cingular Wireless www.cingular.com
eMusic www.emusic.com
Napster www.napster.com
XM Satellite Radio www.xmradio.com
Yahoo! Inc. www.yahoo.com
