Universal Signs On with Motorola iRadio

by Ed Oswald

Motorola announced Tuesday that it had signed a deal with Universal to make the label's music available on the electronics maker's upcoming iRadio service.

iRadio will allow users to download content from their computers to their mobile phones, home stereos or car radio. The service is expected to cost about $7 USD a month. The deal will bring music from popular artists such as U2, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, Eminem, and Sheryl Crow to the service.

"We are excited to be working with Motorola to offer fans an exciting and unique musical experience," Larry Kenswil, President of Universal Music Groups' eLabs, said in a statement. "And with the most extensive digital music catalog in the world, we will be able to offer a wide array of choices to fit every musical taste."

A special phone equipped with the technology is due out when iRadio launches. It will have the capability of storing about 70 hours worth of music from the service.

In order for iRadio to work, the phone would connect via Bluetooth to devices that would transmit the music from the phone to a car stereo or home audio system.

At launch, the service will have hundreds of music and talk channels and will give users the capability to create their own channels from their music collections, according to Motorola.

Motorola plans to launch iRadio at CES 2006, to be held in January in Las Vegas. Rollout of the service will initially occur in the United States, but Motorola expects to make iRadio available to European customers later next year.

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