July 6, 2006
Putting the mobile music pieces in place
John C. Tanner for Telecoms Asia has written the most comprehensive and thorough article on the mobile music industry. A must read.
Excerpts
"The music industry is well aware that digital music is increasingly becoming a mobile phone play, not least because ringtones - which count as digital music - accounted for 40% of digital music dollars last year. And it's only going to get bigger.
... However, for cellcos hoping to offer full-track music services the biggest challenge may not be getting to users to pay so much as acquiring the rights to the content in the first place.
The music licensing regime is almost horrifically complex.
... Even so, licensing isn't the only element that's user-unfriendly. The use of DRM and copy-control software remains a controversial point that pits a legitimate need to protect copyright against a smooth user experience. Many users have become increasingly frustrated with the revelation that music they download from iTunes and other music services is not easily transferable to other devices and are often incompatible with other players.
The mobile music scene is likely to be no different. For example, customers of MotoMusic.com can only play their tracks on the first Motorola handset they transfer them to. Also, the songs are encrypted and unlocked using downloaded keys that the users pay for via SMS. The trouble is that if the user changes handsets (or loses the handset), they must pay for another key to listen to the track again.
Nokia's music phones have similar properties, although Jawahar Kanjilal, director of multimedia experiences at Nokia Asia Pacific, says the user doesn't have to be penalized when they change handsets. "Features can be enabled so that if you lose or change your handset, customer service can identify which songs you have already paid for and reactivate them," he says."
(Above image from Digital-Lifestyles)
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