RSSCingular to Launch Own Music Service
By Ed Oswald | Published November 1, 2006, 3:44 PM
Cingular is expected to launch its own music service, sociality the help of Windows-based music services like Napster, Yahoo Music, and eMusic, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The service, like Verizon's VCAST, would play on selected multimedia-capable phones.
Like VCAST, Cingular will permit customers to transfer songs from their own collection to the phones. Songs from the music service's subscription services could be transferred to the phone, and in 2007 the carrier plans to offer an over-the-air downloading option.
No pricing has yet been announced for that component, although the process of purchasing music will be similar to that current Cingular customers use to purchase ringtones from the carrier.
While both Sprint and Verizon have both launched music services, the popularity is still somewhat hard to gauge. Verizon declines to disclose sales numbers, although Sprint says it has sold 8 million tracks in the year since the launch of its own music store.
In addition to the move to subscription services, Cingular has also tweaked its MusicID service to allow users to identify songs and then download them from the Napster service. A link can be clicked on the phone, allowing the users computer to download the song, and later be loaded onto the phone.
So you are thinking about getting digital music from the phone company. Yep, the same ones that charge you $1.99 for a ringtone that has 15 seconds of your favorite hot new single. Which of the following would happen next?
(A) Nothing, since a digital music file of an entire 3 minute song could cost as much as most albums based on ringtone prices.
(B) The price of a track will be the same (or maybe less than) ringtones. People will finally realize they are getting ripped off and start creating their own ringtones from their own music, and the ringtone market will collapse.
(C) People will use their phone like a MP3 player and then complain about how their battery always dies during conversations.
(D) The phone companies will spend millions on upgrading networks for audio and video downloads so it can bomb just like ESPN mobile. Then they realize people already have iPods and 42" LCD TVs and don't need or want those services.
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Bring it on, the more competition the lower the price for downloads. Also, just another means of pirating for the (those) hackers.
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