
Well, it looks like that
WSJ rumor we ran yesterday was pretty much spot on.
Cingular is indeed launching a music service today, and we must say the scope of their undertaking is quite impressive: integration with three separate music stores, along with supplemental content aplenty. For starters, a Cingular Music phone can work with
Napster to add subscription tracks from your computer with a $15 a month Napster To Go account, and you can also access the new Napster Mobile, which allows 30 second previews and song purchases, but it looks like the songs are only downloaded to your PC, and will be transferred to your phone later. The good news is that those tracks only cost $0.99, quite a bargain compared to most current mobile services, but of course you're not paying for those hefty data charges, and you're not getting the track right when you want it. The
Yahoo! Music offering is quite similar to that of Napster, with $12 a month buying unlimited subscription track usage, but phone-based song purchases still being downloaded to the PC, for syncing with your phone later. There doesn't seem to be much of a mobile slant to
eMusic's DRM-free MP3 offerings, just added integration with Cingular, and 50 free tracks with the purchase of a W810i or W300i. A free 60-day trial of Napster is also available to Cingular customers. Cingular says all of this music store integration is "allowing consumers to extend their existing music libraries not rebuild them," but the lack of mobile song purchasing straight to a handset seems to sort of miss the point. But wait, there's more! Cingular is also announcing 25 channels of XM radio for $9 a month, that MusicID song identification service we mentioned yesterday, Music Videos, and all sorts streaming music and music related content. Cingular music will be supported by the upcoming Cingular SYNC (
Samsung A707), along with the LG CU500, Cingular 3125 and those two Sony Ericssons we already told you about. All this should be going down November 6-ish.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rcadden @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:22PM
I feel as though, of all the carriers, Cingular actually did this right. The key will be how they do the OTA downloads (which without OTA downloads, this is a colossal failure.) A 3MB song at $.01/kb would be $30. They're going to either have to FINALLY move away from PPU and bucket data and just go straight unlimited, or not charge users data for downloads, just charge for the download. Time will tell.
PS - Engadget, don't forget, the user manual for the N75 posted on the FCC yesterday states it'll be a Cingular Music Phone also.
Ross @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:38PM
This is not an over-the-air (OTA) download service. Cingular customers will not be able enjoy the convenience offered by the Sprint Music Store, which requires no cables and allows OTA downloads from anywhere while on the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network. Cingular plans to offer OTA downloads sometime "next year."
Jeff @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:46PM
Thats nice.......NOW WHY DON'T YOU LAUNCH SOME NEW PHONES!!!!! 8525...750....HELLO?!!
WirelessGuy @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:46PM
Ross, I guess you work for Sprint, because the last time I checked, adding a 200% premium for the convenience to download a song OTA was a bit much. There is convenience and then there is just plain stupid pricing, hence why no one uses Sprint's fabulous store.
Why don't you look into raising that price too and allow more customers to churn....
.ed @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:51PM
I've had a w810i for a few weeks and all of this was already available throught the Cingular Music icon on the phone... came with flyer for the emusic deal and everything else is already installed (via aps that are basically bookmarks).
maybe the advertising or rollout starts the 6th, or i got lucky, but it's been since October 17th for me.
Steve @ Nov 2nd 2006 1:51PM
I can speak to Verizon Wireless music pricing...
If you purchase songs from the pc, it is also $.99 per song, without havign to purchase a monthly subscription to a 3rd party provider.
The $1.99 price is for OTA, and provides two versions of the song, one to download on the pc, one directly to the phone.
So, pricing on Cingular's service is technically not as good as Verizon Wireless. Not sure about Sprint.
Mike @ Nov 2nd 2006 1:56PM
The over the air music service is only viable if Cingular has a 3G network up and running in a good number of major US markets. I doubt GPRS/EDGE has either the bandwidth or speed to support a music download service running at the same time as normal data/voice usage on the network.
The CDMA carriers can do music services because they upgraded their 1xRTT networks (at least in a good number of markets) to EV-DO, which can handle the bandwidth and are fast enough so downloading 4MB music files is bearable.
I'm supprised T-mobile didn't launch a service like the Cingular one. They could try to leverage their HotSpot network to get around the lack of over the (cellular) air ability.
Steve @ Nov 2nd 2006 2:13PM
I would also have to wonder, what with the open bluetooth offerings for the GSM carriers, how they will be protecting these songs from being shared. Especially with high profile third party providers (and we all remember what happened to Napster a few years ago). I'm interested to see how that all plays out...
Farwest @ Nov 3rd 2006 12:02AM
.ed,
I too have a Sony Ericsson w810i. However, I have had mine since October 13th. It has the Cingular Music icon and everything layed out like the screenshot above (except with Walkman), but the bookmarks are not directed to any music service site yet. I don't know what Cingular's plan is for implementing this. I am also unsure if the company will be changing the w810's from here on to accommodate this availability.
Does anybody know how I/we will be able to use Cingular Music now that it is soon to be released to the public? Like I said, there is no relative link from the Music menu to Cingular's future site. Please help.
Farwest @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:04AM
OK...
I don't know if anyone else has found this yet (and if it's anything new), but under Cingular's support section online at their web page, there is a tidbit of info about Cingular Music. Then try going to MEdia Net on your phone. Notice that's there no Cingular Music link? Well if you go to...
wap.cingular.ericyhost.com
...Then you will find Napster Mobile. However, this is now part of Cingular's MEdia Net. This just shows that Cingular has a layout set up for their release soon. I don't know if what I shared was anything exciting... Just a coincidence.
Sean O @ Nov 24th 2006 12:04AM
This is lame IMO. Forget the fact you can't even download songs to your phone using just your phone. You can't play streaming songs. That's the whole point of subscription music services vs. iTunes. With a decently fast internet connection you can play any song from their library at any time you want. But unfortunately you can only do it from a desktop. Why don't they allow that? With 3G service and phones with WiFi, this would be incredible. But I guess us consumers get the shaft yet again.
So what the heck is Cingular offering now? You pay more money a month so you can sync songs from already existing services on your desktop? I don't get it. You can already download songs to your device without this new service. What a joke.
David @ Aug 29th 2007 9:13PM
I pay an extra 39.00 for unlimited data transfers. I pay an addtional 10.00 for mobiradio. I like it and feel I get my moneys worth. I use cingular (now AT&T).