Sony Ericsson's nebulously defined next-gen music delivery service, PlayNow Arena, looks like it's been ripening on the vine since we last heard about it and it's getting ready to launch -- or at least get shown off, anyhow. The company appears to have sent out invitations to an event at the upcoming MIDEM music conference in Cannes, where "further details" around PlayNow Arena's launch will be revealed. Oh, and light food and drink will be served, too, which is the real draw here.

[Via IntoMobile]

It sure looks like Sony Ericsson is keeping itself busy these days, with the company now following up word of its latest hardware with an announcement of its plans for its upcoming PlayNow Arena service. That, as you can probably guess, is an upgraded version of the company's existing PlayNow service, although it seems that it'll be a good deal more than just a music service. There will still be plenty of goodies on that front, however, including the TrackID service mentioned on those new handsets, which'll let you identify a snippet of music off the radio and then grab it straight off the PlayNow Arena service. Even more interestingly, Sony Ericsson says that Arena will be an "open multimedia platform" that "welcomes everyone," which it says will lead to an even wider range of games and other "mobile entertainment experiences." It also promises to be compatible with a "wide range" of Sony Ericsson phones, although the company isn't getting much more specific than that at the moment. Expect to hear plenty more in the coming months, however, with the service itself set to roll out in "selected markets" in the second quarter of next year.

[Via LetsGoMobile]

We aren't insinuating that you should attach any level of truth to these rumors just yet, but the boards of Esato are alive with murmurs of a few new SE handsets that could be launched as early as tomorrow. Amongst the mobiles that we could hear more about (officially) in the coming day is the Cyber-shot-branded "Victoria" -- which will supposedly be 14-millimeters thick and sport a 1.9-inch QVGA screen, five color options, and a 128MB M2 card bundled in -- and the still elusive "Veronica." Additionally, we could also be treated to the W350, a Cyber-shot clamshell / Cyber-shot slider, and new "accessories" to boot. Best of all, though, is that you've just a single day left to find out if there's actually any substance to these whispers, but if it does prove true, it certainly won't be the first time.

[Via PocketPicks]

Now that the dust's settling in the wake of Nokia's Loudeye acquisition, Sony Ericsson reckons it's time to get down to business on their own direct-to-phone music downloads. The service (which they've previously alluded to) will be called M-BUZZ and will use its PlayNow service -- currently focused mainly on ringtones and games -- to get content onto the Walkman phone of your choice. Actually, that's not quite true: M-BUZZ will initially be rockin' only on the W850 and W950 series; not quite the sweeping, retroactive compatibility we'd have liked to see, but with the W950's generous legroom for tunes, we do think they picked the right launch phone. Sony Ericsson's saying they'll be first focusing on "new and up-and-coming artists" out of Sony / ATV's library (read: crap they can't find any other way to sell?), but they seem to be leaving themselves the option of significantly expanding the catalog if the service takes off.