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Sony Ericsson to start unlimited download service

9 September 2008 17:45 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 2 comments

Just weeks after announcing its PlayNow Arena, an FT report has surfaced saying that Sony Ericsson plans to unveil an unlimited music downloading service for mobile phones before Christmas as well, in another effort to boost its market share.

The new service will be very similar to that of Nokia's Comes With Music which is set to launch next month and will allow users of certain handsets to download as much music as they like for a year.

Although Sony Ericsson declined comment, FT says the company is in talks with all the major labels currently about opening a service similar to Comes With Music.

Sony Ericsson used to believe unlimited music services "devalued music" says Dan Cryan, analyst at Screen Digest, who also added that, "Sony Ericsson's market share is shrinking. If everybody is launching 'all you can eat' services, which make handsets more attractive to end users and to operators, they don't have much choice, especially when so much of their brand value is built around the Walkman."

The company currently has deals signed with EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG for their PlayNow Arena but have not finalized a deal with Universal, the largest of the Big 4 labels and could have trouble getting deals for this new unlimited service.

Nokia plans to offer their service for a one time fee and it is expected Sony Ericsson will do the same. Also important to note is that Comes With Music uses WMA DRM so Sony Ericsson could one-up its rival by offering DRM-free tracks.

Permalink to this article | Topics: MP3 & Digital Audio Online music services Phones

Sony Ericsson reports fourth consecutive quarterly loss for Q2 (17 July 2009)

Sony Ericsson posts giant loss (19 April 2009)

Sony to buy out Ericsson's share of Sony Ericsson? (18 March 2009)

Nokia launches the 'Tube' XpressMusic 5800 (2 October 2008)

Record labels and SanDisk team up for new music format (22 September 2008)

First download-and-burn CSS DVD drive coming from Dell (15 September 2008)

DECE - Media industry's best and last hope for DRM? (14 September 2008)

EA loosens up a bit on Red Alert 3 DRM (9 September 2008)

Update: Sony Ericsson's PlayNow available in four countries (25 August 2008)

Sony Ericsson starts DRM-free music store (22 August 2008)

PSP-based phone coming? (26 June 2008)

Nokia buys Symbian to set the OS free (24 June 2008)

3G iPhone will be 'radically different' (18 April 2008)

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Discuss this article!
MrXenu (Newbie) 10 September 2008 14:52
Sony, unlimted music downloads for a one time fee; pinch me Sony, unlimited DRM free music downloads for a one time fee; I'm seriously dreaming! [ + quote]
leglessoz (Newbie) 15 September 2008 4:53
Given what my mobile phone provider (Telstra) and all/most phone providers in Australia charge for data services on mobile phones, this "free" download service will still cost us a small fortune in air time. [ + quote]