Nokia Music Store - The Rundown
We’ve all got the deets, but I was able to spend nearly half an hour with one of the guys in charge of the project to really get an idea of what’s going on with this. It’s going to be incredible. In fact, when it was first being announced, Rafe Bladford from AllAboutSymbian leaned over and decided that if it launches like it looks, Apple’s going down, and quickly, and I agree 100%. Let’s explore why…..
The first thing is that this entire music store is focused on making it easy and convenient for the user to get their music. That’s it. I was able to confirm that tracks will cost the same no matter how you buy them - on the PC, OTA, doesn’t matter. That’s awesome.
If you haven’t read the full press release, the Nokia Music store will use Windows DRM for its tracks. Thus, they will not only be playable on Nokia’s N-series devices, but also on any device that is able to use Windows DRM! That includes PlaysForSure MP3 players such as the Creative Zens and whatever else. Also any mobiles (obviously Windows Mobile devices) that can play the format. I think that’s awesome.
The mobile version is fully-featured. You can preview a 30 second clip of the song, add it to your wishlist, view your wishlist, whatever you want to do. There’s several different payment options; you can buy the track straight out, you can purchase a lump amount of credits to use, and you can do gift certificates. So if I bought my dad an N95 for Christmas, I could toss a $30 Music Store card in there, as well. Killer.
You get unlimited transfers with it, so using your USB cable, you can put the tracks on whatever device you want as many times as you want (as far as I understood). You can redownload the tracks 5 times before you have to buy a new license, but you can redownload OTA on your mobile. It’s important to note that the music store is entirely web based, thus if you buy a track or put it on your wishlist on your mobile, it is instantaneously reflected on the PC version. Fantastic.
So how does that play out in real life? Let’s say I’ve bought 8GB worth of music for my library. Other than being completely broke, say I only have a 4GB card in my N95 and I’m in China, while my laptop is in the US. I can delete the songs on my phone (since I’m sick of listening to them from the flight over) and redownload the other 4GB of music that I’ve got in my library, sitting in a web cafe using WiFi. That’s free, but it uses up one of my 5 licenses.
Now let’s say I’m out and about and hear a song I really want. I can buy it on my mobile, and when I get home, plug in with the USB cable. The new Nokia Music Player app (which I’ll cover in a moment) realizes that I have new music, and that I probably want to add it to my library, so it syncs that over (which is just a USB transfer, and is thus free). Easy as pie.
So let’s look at this new desktop app. It’s redesigned from what exists now. It’s like iTunes, with the music store completely integrated. They only had a flash demo, so I couldn’t play, but I did get some great info from the demo man (who worked on the project). First off, the people designing it USE iTunes, so they were able to see the limitations of that and make sure they were addressed in the Nokia software. Great.
One thing is that you can rip a CD directly to your device. So rather than popping a CD in, ripping to your PC, and then going and finding those tracks and syncing them to your device, you can seriously drag the CD onto your device and it’s done in 1 step. REALLY easy. It’ll also rip to AACplus.
Also, playlists sync both ways. This is awesome. Say you’ve got a ton of music on your device (or you just bought a ton) and you build a playlist while riding the bus or train. When you plug into your computer, that playlist is synced over. No other desktop app does that.
You WILL be able to, just like iTunes, use non-DRM’d tracks in the Music Player app, and sync them to your device, blah blah blah. So really the only thing you can’t use in it is iTunes DRM’d tracks.
So what could kill it? What are the weaknesses? The first is how well the desktop Music Player runs. Nokia’s not exactly known for light-weight apps, and this is supposed to be something I have open on my computer all the time (after all, I’m listening to music, right?). If it slows my computer down, that’s a big negative.
Oh, and the rumors were true. It’s going to be a regional launch. Words cannot describe how ANNOYING THAT IS, NOKIA!! SERIOUSLY, COME ON. This is a freakin global world, you can’t launch regional services. However, the music player will be available to everyone, you just can’t use the Music Store till it hits your area. Shame.
What else did you want to know? Anything? Am I excited about it? YES. Will I be the first to get it? YES.
Nokia Music Store? That’s it?
So the word’s out, Nokia is making a huge announcement on August 29th in London, at the Ministry of Sound locale. If you’ve been reading other sites such as AllAboutSymbian, you’ll know that it’s likely to have something to do with their purchase of Loudeye a couple of years back, and be an all-out music store, complete with over-the-air downloads, the whole lot.
I’d like to explore this, and a few recent Nokia moves, more in depth, and see if we can put some puzzle pieces together. I think there’s alot more than just a music store coming down the pipe, and I’m going to tell you why.
First, let’s recap. Nokia bought Loudeye in August 2006, and said they would be delivering "a comprehensive mobile music experience, including devices, applications and the ability to purchase digital music" in 2007, according to the Press Release. Sounds like they’re right on target. This was right about the time that the Nokia N91 was released, followed by the Music Editions of the N70 and N73.
Since then, Nokia has added support for the Windows DRM in their devices and come out with several other music oriented devices, including the N75, N76, N95, and several XpressMusic devices. These are not just S60 devices, but include S40, as well, showing that Nokia is thinking across their product platforms. They’ve also made significant changes to the Music Player embedded in their devices, and began using Mini-USB and 3.5mm headset jacks in their devices, as well.
With the information about the N81 surfacing, with 8GB of internal storage, and the 8GB N95, there’s a very obvious move into music-oriented devices. So they have a music store, big woop. So do most of the carriers in the US. But they also have their own Assisted GPS server, and are launching their own games system, complete with PC-based options.
Fascinating. Recently, they also bought Twango, which completely baffled most of the blogosphere. Twango is a content-sharing system where users can upload and share photos, videos, and audio clips. Kinda like Flickr, YouTube, and…er….audio, all together, owned by Nokia. So now Nokia lets you buy music and share video/photos/audio directly on your device. Interesting.
Then there’s Ngage. The new, updated platform should launch in the next few months, and I have no doubts that it’s gonna be sweet. With today’s high-speed networks, WiFi, the ability to play on any recent S60v3 device, and games downloaded direct to the handset, it’s poised to really draw people to the S60 community.
Let’s not forget the other big purchase - Gate5, the navigation company. We’ve already seen some of the fruit of this purchase - Nokia Maps. I use it on my N95, it’s really a great application, and appropriately priced. GPS on your phone. Brilliant.
So, how does this all fit together? Well, let’s see. We’ve got A-GPS, bringing location-based services to the table, Loudeye supplying the tunes, Ngage offering up some killer games, with a PC-option, as well, and Twango letting you upload and share all your stuff. Anyone else seeing some REALLY cool potential?
Let’s setup a scenario - you’re playing a game on the subway, and your phone alerts you that someone else is in the vicinity. You can share a video/picture/audio clip with them, and start gaming together/against each other. You’re at a concert and your phone asks if you want to download the band’s recent album to your phone. All these things are feasible, though maybe not available from the very start.
I think Nokia is positioning themselves VERY well, personally. And the key is that they own all this, which means it’s separate from your carrier. You just supply the data connection, Nokia does the rest. And here in the US, with Nokia a major partner in Sprint’s new WiMax network, to be built later this year, that’s a VERY promising future.
What do you think? Do you think Nokia can pull everything together and deliver a really solid user experience with all these services, or do you think they’re going to have too tough of a time trying to make this patchwork quilt work together?
I’m very looking forward for nokia music player… but I’m the the kind of person who pay for songs..
Hey Ricky here are a few counterpoints to your Nokia Music Store post:
The first thing is that this entire music store is focused on making it easy and convenient for the user to get their music. That’s it. I was able to confirm that tracks will cost the same no matter how you buy them - on the PC, OTA, doesn’t matter. That’s awesome.
***192kbps WMA+(DRM only) tracks at $1.32/each aren’t necessarily a bargain at all vs. $1.49 for 256kbps AAC (DRM free) tracks through iTunes especially considering that they won’t play on most of the music players people in the world own today…an iPod! Not charging extra for OTA downloads is definitely praiseworthy news to Nokia fans though.
The mobile version is fully-featured. You can preview a 30 second clip of the song, add it to your wishlist, view your wishlist, whatever you want to do. There’s several different payment options; you can buy the track straight out, you can purchase a lump amount of credits to use, and you can do gift certificates. So if I bought my dad an N95 for Christmas, I could toss a $30 Music Store card in there, as well. Killer.
***iTunes also allows you to buy credits or e-mail someone a gift certificate card too…not sure what you are so impressed about there?
You get unlimited transfers with it, so using your USB cable, you can put the tracks on whatever device you want as many times as you want (as far as I understood).
***Ditto with iTunes
You can redownload the tracks 5 times before you have to buy a new license, but you can redownload OTA on your mobile. It’s important to note that the music store is entirely web based, thus if you buy a track or put it on your wishlist on your mobile, it is instantaneously reflected on the PC version. Fantastic.
***That is something that you can’t do on iTunes yet but would be a really welcome addition, big props to Nokia for that ambitious move!
Now let’s say I’m out and about and hear a song I really want. I can buy it on my mobile, and when I get home, plug in with the USB cable. The new Nokia Music Player app (which I’ll cover in a moment) realizes that I have new music, and that I probably want to add it to my library, so it syncs that over (which is just a USB transfer, and is thus free). Easy as pie.
***Let’s see what Apple announces next Wednesday but for now Nokia has definitely one upped them in this category too.
One thing is that you can rip a CD directly to your device. So rather than popping a CD in, ripping to your PC, and then going and finding those tracks and syncing them to your device, you can seriously drag the CD onto your device and it’s done in 1 step. REALLY easy. It’ll also rip to AACplus.
***That is SUPER convenient nice job on Nokia’s part but I hope it works as well as it sounds.
Also, playlists sync both ways. This is awesome. Say you’ve got a ton of music on your device (or you just bought a ton) and you build a playlist while riding the bus or train. When you plug into your computer, that playlist is synced over. No other desktop app does that.
***Ditto with iTunes (they are called On-The-Go PlayLists) except for the fact that it doesn’t support OTA downloading of music (maybe that will change next Wednesday.)
Oh, and the rumors were true. It’s going to be a regional launch. Words cannot describe how ANNOYING THAT IS, NOKIA!! SERIOUSLY, COME ON. This is a freakin global world, you can’t launch regional services. However, the music player will be available to everyone, you just can’t use the Music Store till it hits your area. Shame.
***The only thing more annoying than that is the fact that Nokia will launch an 8GB N95 with a 2.8″ screen for only $65 more than the U.S. 3G N95 which won’t include the bigger screen (same old 2.6″), OR 8GB of internal flash memory OR and all-black colour option…talk about regional favortism!
How come you still haven’t mentioned anything regarding the Nokia iPhone video?
It is pretty amazing how Nokia has been making Mobile phones for over 20 years and they are already imitating Apple’s 1st Mobile phone which has been out for barely two months!
Why would Nokia show off a completely Touchscreen Mobile Handset Interface when they have been so critical of Apple for going that route?
Can you burn a DRMed track to CD like you can with iTunes?
Also, did they say this Music Store would work with a Mac?
There’s a reason this launch has to be regional: it’s all about who owns the rights to the music. It’s regional. It’s the same reason iTunes doesn’t have video outside the US or Nokia’s Download! service has almost no content. Different companies in different regions own the rights to content.
So will the app run on on my Mac? Oh, no?
forget it… not interested. While Apple had to create a Windows version of their app to really have a chance at a decent market share, which they could do since they controlled the DRM mechanism, Nokia has an extremely crappy track record of creating Mac software (Helloooo… MacSuite??????). Since they don’t control how the DRM mechanism works, would they be the first (would they be?) to create software based on MS DRM on a Mac? Huh… I won’t hold my breath.
-Pete
Personally, I am not a fans of DRM.
Why don’t they distribute their music without DRM restriction? I like they way Steve Jobs approach by selling some of the music files DRM-free.
I had forgotten about the fact that Windows DRM doesn’t exist on the Mac. Unless they handle the DRM on the server, which is always possible, then we won’t see a Mac version of this store.
It’s far too early to tell if the Nokia Music Store is going to be a success or not . . . But, as has already been pointed out here, they do have one MASSIVE problem before they even get started - no Mac or iPod support! Having no Mac support, for whatever reason, creates a large amount of ill will towards Nokia.
At least some of my purchased iTunes songs will play nicely on my N95, but zero Nokia Music Store songs will play on my MacBook or iPod - not good news at all. Nokia really should look for other solutions rather then jump in with Microsoft, just look at how they mistreated all the ‘Plays For Sure’ gang!
Was there any mention of the list of devices supported by the music player/music store ?
I hope its not gonna be only N- series or something…
Any chance that the v2 phone, N70 would be included in the supported devices ?
Hope they add non N-series devices to Music store support, just purchased a 6120 classic, very capable phone with hsdpa and s60 3rd edition etc…just because it does not have a N badge will it be excluded? Would limit the market share as users would require higher end (more expensive) models to use.
Don’t quite get why some people are annoyed that Nokia is making a touchscreen device similar to the iPhone. Where was Apple when Nokia introduced the world’s first GSM phone? What Apple did with the iPhone is placing an order with Chinese and Taiwanese white-label manufacturers, putting in an interesting OS and then locking the whole thing to the carrier and the iTunes. Ingenius but in no way revolutionary.
I’ve closed comments on this post, and answered most of the questions above at the following post, please continue the discussion there:
http://symbianguru.typepad.com/welcome/2007/09/nokia-music-sto.html