Madonna’s New Album To Come Pre-Packaged On Sony Ericsson Phones

Sony Ericsson and Warner Music International are partnering to bundle Madonna’s latest album, Hard Candy, on handsets in 27 countries.

Starting this month, the bundles will come in two versions - one with five tracks from the album, another with the full release plus extra wallpapers and ringtones.

[via Moco News]

Music biz hopes device upgrades boost mobile sector

While only 6.7 percent of overall mobile customers use their phone to listen to music, rising to 27.9 percent for smart-phone users, a full 74.1 percent of iPhone owners reported using the device as an MP3 player, according to M:Metrics.

The majority of this music, however, is transferred from the computer, rather than purchased through the phone and downloaded wirelessly. That may change this summer once Apple unveils what many expect will be a new version of the iconic device, featuring access to high-speed third-generation (3G) wireless networks.

Read full article from Reuters.

Nokia signs Sony BMG for free music offering

Nokia will offer free 12-month access to music from artists of Sony BMG, the world's second-biggest label, to buyers of its particular music phones, the world's top cellphone maker said on Tuesday. Reuters reports.

"... Sony BMG, home to artists including Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and Celine Dion, is jointly owned by Sony Corp and German media group Bertelsmann AG.

The new music offering from Nokia -- the first cellphone maker to push heavily into content -- would differ from any other package on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 months."

MTV phone to launch in France

French operator SFR will target young music fans by launching an MTV-branded phone next week. [via Mobile Entertainment]

"The MTV3.3 slider includes MTV content such as videos, logos, wallpapers, original ringtones created by DJ Cut Killer and the MTV Cribs mobile game. It will also have easy access to MTV news, music channels and made-for-mobile channels.

Five free songs will be made available for download each month."

Warner signs 7digital MP3 deal in Europe

Warner Music has signed a deal with digital media site 7digital.com to provide its catalogue in the MP3 format, which can be played on nearly all music devices.

... The site is the first major European download store to offer Warner's tracks in the DRM-free MP3 format -- 7digital offers EMI's catalogue in the MP3 format and aims to sign more labels soon.

[via Reuters]

3 iPhones and music program equals one iBand

Three art students from Austria have hacked into their iPhones - a big no-no, from Apple's perspective - and loading them with music-playing software, which they have used to record songs. The videos they put on YouTube last month of what they call the first iBand have been drawing heavy traffic from technophiles and curiosity-seekers. IHT reports.

"Their debut video, posted Feb. 17 and briefly the top-featured video on the site, is fairly rudimentary, from a musical perspective at least: In what the band describes as a "jam session," one iPhone plays keyboard software, another plays a virtual guitar program and a Nintendo DS video game player plays percussion. The result is more songlike noise than melody.

But the fascination was instant: The three were immediately deluged with requests for interviews, for copies of the song and for information about the software and equipment they had used.

The original video had been viewed more than two million times by Sunday, and more than 13,000 viewers had left comments."

People Really Are Using Music Capabilities On Their Handsets

A recent study from M:Metrics shows that as the adoption of music phones has increased, so has the use of mobile music by consumers. Some highlight from the press release brought to light by SMS Text News:

-- Nearly 11% of mobile subscribers in the U.S. and Western Europe use their handset for music

-- Primary source of mobile music is still the PC, at 83% of active listeners

-- In every country other than the U.S. and Spain, more music was shared via bluetooth than loaded from the PC

-- Music phone penetration grew over 50% between Nov 2006 and Nov 2007, with the U.S. the fastest-growing at 63.6%

iAno piano application for the iPhone

iAno is an iPhone application which turns the device (if it's jailbroken) into a functioning digital piano.

See how it works on YouTube.

[via Uberphones]

LG Electronics showcased LG-KM710 called Mark Levinson Phone

LG Electronics showcased its high-end music phone LG-KM710 during Mobile World Congress 2008, called Mark Levinson Phone. FeelPhones reports.

LG and Mr. Mark Levinson announced their collaboration to develop products that deliver enhanced sound quality and a differentiated, stylish design.

More pictures here.

Mark Levinson designs and manufactures industry-benchmark high fidelity and home theater equipment.

Omnifone announces MusicStation Handset

Apple may have thrown down the first gauntlet with the iPhone but the UK's Omnifone is responding with what it claims will be the first handset with unlimited free music downloads wherever you are — no computer necessary. The Associated Press reports.

"The first MusicStation Max handset will be offered by South Korea's LG and available in Europe and Asia-Pacific in the first half of the year.

LG expects to roll out a series of cell phones with free access to Omnifone's full MusicStation catalog — currently 1.6 million songs from the four major international music labels and hundreds of independents."

Mobile phones get spotlight at Cannes music show

Phone companies are by now a familiar presence at the Midem's annual global music trade show, which is taking place in Cannes this week, with cellphone vendors sandwiched between purveyors of audio gear and managers of hip-hop bands. The IHT reports.

"That's because the mobile phone is now the world's best-selling portable music device - even if most people don't play tunes on their phone. An MP3 player is almost standard on any midrange or high-end phone coming to market these days.

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, last year old 146 million phones that can play digital music, out of total sales of about 430 million. Sony Ericsson, with a far smaller global market share, sold about the same number of music phones, many of them carrying the Walkman brand.

But it's not just a hardware phenomenon. In Cannes, several telecommunications companies took the wraps off ideas for new music services at Midem, the international music market. In part, they are trying to emulate Asia, where in certain countries music over the mobile phone outsells Internet downloads."

Read full article.

Nokia to Share Revenue of Bundled Music With Mobile Operators

Nokia will share revenue with phone operators from a program to sell handsets with unlimited music access, Nokia's head of entertainment said to Bloomberg.

"The Finnish company unveiled in December the "Comes With Music'' program, which will allow customers to buy a phone with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks included in the purchase price. Nokia agreed to offer tracks from Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, and is in talks with other major labels.

... Tracks downloaded on the "Comes with Music'' program will be protected by digital-rights management software, Ojanpera said. While users will be able to share music files between their handset and computer, the files will not be transferable between computers, according to the executive."

[via MobHappy]

Ezmo Lets Phone Users Tap Music Collection

Norway-based Ezmo has announced its new mobile version of its Ezmo online music player, offering mobile phone users a way to tap into their personal music collections using their phones—and without having to cart around memory or other storage in order to load up songs.

ased on Flash Lite 3—available in a growing number of phones including the Nokia N95—Ezmo combines a music player with a social networking service: users can upload their entire music library to the Web (using tools for Mac or Windows), then listen to their music collections on their mobile phones.

They can also share their music libraries with up to ten friends, as well as access their music from anywhere they can get an Internet connection.

[via Digital Trends]

Mobile Tunes Rack Up Sales in Asia

Asian consumers aren't yet buying digital music to pack their iPods with sprawling collections of music, but they are splashing out on digital music in the form of mobile ringtones and ringback tones.

[via PC World]

Companies Offer Music Phones With Copyrighted Music

Spreadtrum, Amoi, and Kuro jointly announced a solution for music phones offering copyrighted music in China, as Amoi unveiled its new music phones, A616 and A636. China Tech News reports.

"... Kuro is a music service provider legally authorized by most record companies for millions of online copyrighted songs, providing high quality music download services in China.

Through the cooperation, Spreadtrum has embedded Kuro's services into its chipset platform, so that the mobile phones equipped with Spreadtrum's chips can enable the functions of a multimedia player and online music download services."

Apple calls the tune in mobile music

Apple's iPhone has set off an avalanche of traditional mobile phone operators into the music market, fearing that a vital source of revenue could be seized from under them. The Times Online reports.

"The market has huge potential: consumers could be spending as much as $32 billion a year buying music on their handsets by 2010, analysts believe. And the success of the iPhone - Orange sold 30,000 in five days – has served to focus Vodafone and its rivals on trying to snare a chunk of the revenue.

-- In September Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile company, offered subscribers access to a vast catalogue of music for less than £2 a week. It dubbed the service, which lets consumers download the latest tunes regardless of their location, a “completely new movement within mobile music”.

-- Last week Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer, went further by promising buyers of its handsets free access to millions of songs for a year. One analyst described the service, offered jointly with Universal, as a potential “game changer”.

Meanwhile, a study by Informa Telecoms & Media found that both the mobile operators and the music industry were “staking much of their future in this market”.

... Edgar Bronfman, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Music, has described the mobile platform as “by far and away the biggest opportunity for entertainment generally and music specifically”. But he also said that if phone companies did not smarten up their act and offer more competitive services, they would be forced to “watch their share of the opportunity diminish” as the likes of Apple cash in.

3 turns on Non Stop Music

British operator 3 announced the launch of Non Stop Music, a new service delivering unlimited access to genre-based music streams ranging from dance to classic rock for 49 pence (about $1) per 24-hour cycle.

Developed in conjunction with Ericsson, Non Stop Music promises eight different channels, each on a four-hour loop.

[Fierce Mobile Content via Press release]

Mobile phones are where the music's at

Mobile phones will increasingly become the favoured device on which to buy music, research suggests. [via The Inquirer]

"Tunes beamed to mobile phones currently represent around 13 per cent of global recorded music retail value. And an industry report forecasts an increase to almost 30 per cent by 2011.

By then, according to research by Dunstable-based Understanding & Solutions, mobile music will be worth some $11 billion annually.

Rule Jostles Runners Who Race to Their Own Tune

Before the up-coming New York Marathon race this Sunday, The New York Times reports on the banning of portable audio devices for runners in competitive races . [via Smart Mobs]

"USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running, this year banned the use of headphones and portable audio players like iPods at its official races. The new rule was created to ensure safety and to prevent runners from having a competitive edge.

... With technological advances leading to smaller and smaller audio players that are easier to carry and conceal during races, the rift in the sport and the debate over the issue seems to be here to stay."

Apple, Nokia Face Off in Music-Phone Clash

Nokia and Apple are vying for British consumers in their first major showdown. Nokia is introducing two new music cellphones in London in time for the arrival of Apple's iPhone in the U.K.

[via WSJ and watch mobuzz take on Apple vs iPhone]

Virgin Mobile Deals "Wild Card' Cell Phone with streaming music

Virgin Mobile USA on Friday unveiled "Wild Card" by Kyocera Wireless, which is the carrier's first cell phone with streaming music capability. Information Week reports.

"Wild Card streams music through an application called Headliner, which works like a jukebox and lets customers listen to individual tracks for 25 cents each. Additionally, the subscription service serves up concert tour updates, music news, artist information, and music charts. Headliner costs $2.49 a month.

The music service is paired with a messaging offer, which includes unlimited text, IM, e-mail, and picture messaging for $20 a month. "

Beyonce Special Edition Samsung B'Phone

I4U reports that Samsung today announced Beyonce Special Edition B'Phone, a limited edition handset exclusive to Sprint.

"As an update to the popular, award-winning UpStage by Samsung, the B'Phone features a dual-sided design.

The Samsung B'Phone is has a burgundy and gold color body. The B'Phone comes complete with a preloaded special Beyonce-styled start-up screen. Consumers who purchase the B'Phone will receive exclusive access to premium video and music content."

Samsung Releases a Trio of Music Phones

Samsung has launched three music phones that are "100 per cent music, 100 per cent phone," according to the Korean electronics giant. Full specs on Gizmodo.

Samsung's Beat Phone

Samsung's "Beat" for T-Mobile -- the SGH-T539 -- launched yesterday.

The midrange, music-friendly flip comes bundled with a 1GB microSD card, two preloaded songs and stereo Bluetooth, along with a 1.3 megapixel camera and the now-standard myFaves support.

[via Engadgetmobile]

Serenata: Bang & Olufsen New Music Phone

Spotted on Tech.co.uk, a Bang & Olufsen's music phone, called Serenata.

"The phone can store up to 1,000 MP3 tracks in its 4GB, plus 25MB of memory, and can handle AAC and WMA audio tracks too. The phone's high resolution also enables it to display album artwork, B&O says."

Report: Customers Will Choose Phone for Music

Forrester Research recently announced that it expects growth of MP3 players to slow as more consumers choose to access music on their mobile phones. Wireless Week reports.

"The findings were part of Forrester's 10th annual guide to consumers' technology adoption and attitudes. The report also found that adoption of cameraphones will continue to grow, jumping from 41.6 million households at the end of 2006 to nearly 97 million households in 2012."

Leaked pics of Nokia’s new & revised Xpress Music handsets

New Nokia phones to have been announced today, were leaked yesterday on Chinese website IT.com.cn.

It seems there will be 3 new Nokia XpressMusic phones introduced. Click here for more pics and specs.

[Unwired View via Pocket Picks]

Australian Recording Industry Association Branded Moto Phone

The Australian Recording Industry Assocation (ARIA) has teamed up with Motorola to launch an Z6 DUO ARIA-branded handset, in Australia, reports MocoNews.

"The attraction being “a new music button on the main menu, allowing direct access to the Motorola ARIA Chart from your mobile phone at all times, wherever you are.

The MOTOROKR Z6 DUO ARIA is first in a range of new music handsets to be released exclusively in Australia.

The new handset will allow direct access to the Motorola ARIA Chart from your mobile phone, and will come bundled with a bonus content card and the brand new wireless MOTOROKR S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones."

LG's Trax 3G music phone goes live with AT&T

AT&T today announced the launch of the LG Trax. In addition to the touch-sensitive external music controls and support for up to 4GB of AAC, MP3, or WMA tracks that give the phone its name, the shipping version of the handset takes advantage of its 3G-level HSDPA Internet access to hook into multiple online AT&T media services.

The Trax is the latest phone to support MP3 downloads from eMusic Mobile or live Internet streaming of XM radio.

[via electronista]

Music From Independent Labels to Be Sold via Cellphones

eMusic, the nation’s second-largest online music seller after Apple’s iTunes, plans to announce a deal with AT&T today that will allow people to buy songs from independent labels through their cellphones, without the need to go through a personal computer. [via The New York Times]

"Nearly all of the 2.7 million tracks eMusic has the rights to sell will be available through the service, which will work on several handsets by Samsung and Nokia."

ROK Streams Live Music Concert to GPRS Handsets

ROK Entertainment, the UK-based mobile TV vendor, says that it has successfully completed the world's first music concert to be streamed live over mass-market 2.5G via GPRS to mobile phones.

The Be My Guest concert was staged on Saturday 14th July at the Bangkok Hall in Thailand and was streamed across a 4 hour period, live and exclusive, to mobile operator AIS's ROK TV service.

[via Cellular News]

Little harmony in mobile music

The arrival of Apple's iPhone poses a dilemma for mobile phone operators. The FT reports.

The device is expected to push more people to access music on their handsets, and operators may gain kudos by having the much-hyped device in their portfolio.

But mobile operators have invested heavily in their own music services, and may be reluctant to promote Apple's rival iTunes service.

Some operators, like Vodafone, feel strongly they want to retain a key role in selling music to handsets.

“We would absolutely hope to give iTunes a run for its money,” said Paul Kenny, content and product executive for Vodafone Music. “We think it is important to keep the Vodafone label on our music services. We think it is something we can compete on.”

Such sentiments could make signing a deal with Apple difficult.

... Mobile phone operators have so far struggled to get their music download services to take off, despite a head start of several years. High prices, confusing payment structures and a lack of music-enabled handsets have all been blamed for slow take-up.

And thanks to this patchy track record, many in the music industry are welcoming new entrants.

“New devices like the iPhone and new innovative services like MusicStation will help us drive the digital music business forward at a faster rate,” said Rob Wells, senior vice-president at Universal’s international digital music business."

iPhone may not rock music industry

iPhone owners won't be able to buy and download music over a wireless network. Instead, they will have to buy music via their computers and then download it to their phones, a process called side-loading. The Associated Press reports.

"The arrival of the iPhone on Friday has stoked optimism among some music company executives that it will usher in a new wave of easier-to-use mobile music devices or even entice more people into embracing the phone as music player — and into buying more music.

"The introduction of the iPhone is an enormously positive event," said Warner Music Group Corp. CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. at a conference earlier this month in New York. "It creates more and more consumers who are looking to buy music, but it also galvanizes the mobile industry to compete."

Some analysts, however, say mobile music sales will be dampened as long as users are limited to loading music on their phones via their PCs and Macintosh computers, and blocked from buying music wirelessly."

Sony Ericsson Phones to Support New Music Service

In the days leading up to the availability of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, potentially competitive mobile music services, including one from Gracenote, are hitting the market. PCWorld reports.

"Gracenote announced on Thursday a new service that will become available on phones also introduced on Thursday by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. The service will let users search online from their handsets for artists, buy songs and ring tones, and view album art.

Gracenote can also identify songs that users are listening to on the FM radios in the phones and connect users to information about the songs and the opportunity to buy them.

The service will be available to users of the Sony Ericsson W910 Walkman phone and the K850 Cyber-shot phone, both introduced Thursday and due to be available in the fourth quarter."

MusicStation beats iPhone for The Ultimate Music Handset

MusicStation has stolen a march on Apple, in the fight for the ultimate music handset. They've announced that they have launched a 'All you can eat' music download service that is available in Sweden from today, and will be rolled out across the rest of Europe and Asia in the next few weeks. No plans for the US so far.

MusicStation has made deals with Universal, Sony BMG, EMI, Warner and some of the larger independent labels.

[via Shiny Shiny]

Latte Boom gets a thumbs down review from Gizmodo

Gizmodo gives Samsung's Boombox cellphone a thumbs down review.

"The tiny tiny, bar-shaped handheld is actually a cellphone. And not a good one at that. ... Call quality on it is bad, texting is difficult (due mainly to the small keypad and screen), and even as a boombox, sound isn't top notch."

Napster says music cell phones will save company

Napster is positioning itself to become the leading content provider for music-enabled cell phones, CEO William Gorog said in a conference call after the close of Wednesday’s trading. Smallcap Investor reports.

“We have never had greater excitement,” Gorog said on the call. “We believe our base of on-demand music subscribers is greater than all other on-demand subscription services combined.”

“In 2008, music-enabled cell phones will easily eclipse sales of MP3 players,” Gorog said. “In the near future, most consumers will own a portable device that is compatible with Napster.”

Cell Phone with Surround Sound

A cell phone with surround sound? [via Engadget]

Advertising Complaint Against Nokia Rejected

Nokia wins lawsuit - The Nokia 5300's claim that it has CD quality sound has been confirmed, as users can't distinguish a real CD from the quality of music it plays. Cellular News reports.

"... The UK's Advertising Standards Authority said that while it noted the complainant believed the claim "CD quality sound" was misleading, because compressed music files were not the same quality as music files on CD, which had a bit rate of 1411 kbps.

However, they also noted the ISO report had found that listeners had been unable to distinguish between compressed AAC files encoded at 128kbps and CD sound. The test results showed that AAC encoding at 128kbps was indistinguishable from CD sound.

The ASA says that it considered that readers would interpret the claim "CD quality sound" to mean that when they listened to files played on the Nokia XpressMusic the sound would be indistinguishable from CD sound, and that Nokia had substantiated the claim "CD quality sound" and it was unlikely to mislead. "

Music phones take off faster than the iPod

According to a report in the The Times Online via Mad4Mobile Phones, music phones such as the Sony Ericsson Walkman series are selling at a faster rate than the iPod did in its first few years.

"Apple last week sold their 100 millionth iPod but from 2001 to 2004 they only achieved sales of 4 million units. It wasn't until the iPod Mini was released that sales really took off.

Sony Ericsson are announcing sales figures this week and will report sales of 17million Walkman phones last year, and a total of more than 20 million since they were first introduced just over 18 months ago. "

According to the report, Nokia are developing an iTunes style music store:

"Nokia's research suggests that 60% of customers now use their phone's music-playing capabilities. Mark Squires, at Nokia UK, said the big change had been digital storage capacity. "We've now got 2GB [gigabyte] memory cards for £15," he said. "Most people can quite happily store most of their music in a couple of gigs [of storage]. Phones have grown to be able to hold your music library, and before they couldn't."

... Nokia is trying to make it easier for customers to work with their existing library of digital music. In the next two or three months it will also challenge iTunes with the launch its own online music store, building on last year's $60m acquisition of Loudeye, a digital music specialist."

Hop-On to sabotage phone market with patent?

Cellphone designer Hop-On may create trouble for the music phone industry, according to a patent the company has received today, reports electronista.

"The company said it had been granted a patent that covered MP3 phones with speakers on the sides as well as control buttons -- effectively applying the patent to virtually every flip-phone with music abilities released in the US over recent years."

Read more.

phling!

phling!is a new mobile service that lets you tune in to the music stored on your computer (PC only for the time being) from wherever you are. Cool Hunting reports.

"To use it you download applications to both your mobile phone and your PC. So long as the PC is turned on and connected to the internet you can stream your music files to your phone. phling!

... You can also see other phling! users—people who also listening to the same song as you, others online with similar taste or people fitting whatever profile you're looking for. Once you connect with other users you can also listen to their music."

Previously: - Start-up claims to offer next mobile-music thing

Apple's long shadow over mobile music

The wireless industry is finally offering a long list of phones with the music features some pundits have long predicted would diminish Apple's control of the market for digital music.

"... "I think 2007 will be a huge year for mobile music," said John Burris, vice president of data services at Sprint. "There won't be anyone who doesn't know that a mobile phone will be able to play music."

But will they want it if it's not made by Apple? There are still lots of issues that need to be worked out before mobile music can really live up to the hype, say experts. From their difficulties with incompatible digital rights management technology to their struggles with short battery lives and poor user interfaces, mobile operators and handset makers have a long way to go before the experience of purchasing and listening to music on mobile phones--even the ones made by Apple--lives up to consumer expectations.

Nokia's XpressMusic 5700

My next phone.

The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic with a a dedicated audio chip for enhanced music performance, features an iconic twist design that easily switches between four modes at the flick of the wrist - music player, 2 Megapixel camera, video call and smartphone.

Should launch in Europe second quarter 2007.

[via Yanko Design and picture from Engadgetmobile]