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Sony Ericsson Goes DRM-Free, Will Nokia?

By The Guru on August 25, 2008

News broke on Friday that Sony Ericsson was launching its new PlayNow Arena, which offers users quick access to games, applications, and most importantly, music. The big news, however, isn’t the new portal, it’s what’s contained there – DRM-free music tracks. Yep, Sony Ericsson will be launching with 1 million tracks of DRM-free MP3s, available for purchase. The library includes tracks from Sony BMG, Warner, and EMI, and Sony Ericsson hopes to have 5 million by the end of next year.

Tracks are priced at roughly $1.40, which isn’t bad compared to the $.99 offered by Nokia Music Store and iTunes (the latter of which isn’t really mobile unless you have an iPhone). Of course, annoyingly, American music buffs can completely ignore this post, because apparently Sony Ericsson isn’t ready to take on Apple here in the U.S., either. The launch will be limited to the Nordic countries, with more to be added along the way.

So, Sony Ericsson is launching a DRM-free mobile music store. Nokia has its Nokia Music Store, but it uses Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM, which limits the number of difference devices you can use a single track on. Nokia also has its forthcoming Comes With Music initiative, which will offer 1 year of free music bundled with specific handsets (details on which handsets have not been announced, despite Comes With Music being announced over a year ago). As Nokia strives to build its reputation around mobile music, another entry, this time offering DRM-free as a temporary competitive advantage is no small announcement.

Personally, I don’t really see how Nokia can have both Comes with Music *and* switch to offering DRM-free music, at all. I just can’t see how that would really work out, in the real world. So, in my opinion, the question becomes, will Nokia keep Comes with Music, or is DRM-free a better option? Frankly, I don’t care, cause I live in the U.S., and the likelihood of me benefiting from the decision at all is very small. However, for those of you living in countries where Nokia Music Store has already launched, which would you prefer? If you were in the market for a new Nokia phone, would you prefer it to come with a year of free music, albeit with DRM limitations, or would you prefer to have the convenience of purchasing DRM-free music directly from your handset, via the handy store?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • http://my.opera.com/Furie Furie

    When my phone starts running slower (about once a month the way I use it) I back up all my files to the PC and wipe everything from the phone before reinstalling everything. It’s quite a common practice. However, each time I do that I have to download the licences for my music from the Nokia Music Store again. No big deal, I’ve got unlimited data after all. Well, it wasn’t a big deal until the last time when I found out that each time I download the licence again it counts as a different device and I’d used it too many times meaning I have to buy the licence again. I’ve got £20 of vouchers for it but I shan’t be using Nokia Music Store again for that reason, so I say DRM free music all the way.

  • http://my.opera.com/Furie Furie

    When my phone starts running slower (about once a month the way I use it) I back up all my files to the PC and wipe everything from the phone before reinstalling everything. It’s quite a common practice. However, each time I do that I have to download the licences for my music from the Nokia Music Store again. No big deal, I’ve got unlimited data after all. Well, it wasn’t a big deal until the last time when I found out that each time I download the licence again it counts as a different device and I’d used it too many times meaning I have to buy the licence again. I’ve got £20 of vouchers for it but I shan’t be using Nokia Music Store again for that reason, so I say DRM free music all the way.

  • http://www.nokiacreative.com James Burland

    I’d much prefer a DRM free option. However my main wish for Nokia’s music strategy as this present time is to allow subscription streaming on the Nseries, rather than just on the (Windows) PC.

  • http://www.nokiacreative.com/ James Burland

    I’d much prefer a DRM free option. However my main wish for Nokia’s music strategy as this present time is to allow subscription streaming on the Nseries, rather than just on the (Windows) PC.

  • Pratish

    Are *Comes With Music* handsets available in US ? apologies if its a dumb question..

  • Pratish

    Are *Comes With Music* handsets available in US ? apologies if its a dumb question..

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    @Pratish

    No unfortunately (Luckily?) not.
    You can check for yourself at this website:
    http://musicstore.nokia.com/

    @James Burland
    Not the dumbest idea.
    However that requires two things as I can see it.
    1. It requires internet access via your operator. That is to be able to e.g. get your IMEI or phone number so they recognize that you have subscribed to their service.
    2. The operator provides good bandwidth.

    Here in Norway we have this subscription for Mobile TV which is offered by the operator Telenor.
    I used their service as a pilot user (and writing feedbacks) and you had to stream the TV via your mobile and via the operator’s accesspoint.

    So the above statements are just from my previous experience really.

    If they could change to another model, such as logging into a service first and then start the streaming you could get around this problem.

    @Furie
    That is in fact one of the main reasons why I really dislike (HATE) DRM.

    I’ve bought for instance clips of Lenore via the Download! in my phone and it appeared to have DRM, not exactly a suprise since it was Sony.
    When resetting the device they key was lost and there weren’t even any solution to it again without paying.

    I really don’t mind DRM if it’s used in such a way that you can e.g. backup your keys in an easy way.
    Unfortunately they think too much in “PC Style”, with that I mean that the keys are stored in the phone memory. However unlike on a PC where you can browse and find the keys.
    This is impossible on the newer Symbian Devices.
    (Without hacking it, still haven’t found them though)
    I do understand that this is due to security and to prevent that the average user mess up their phones.
    Unfortunately this thinking don’t work.

    So all in all the conclusion is that I rather would pay more for DRM free music than having “Comes with music”.
    If DRM must be used I would prefer the watermark rather than any other solutions of DRM.

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    @Pratish

    No unfortunately (Luckily?) not.
    You can check for yourself at this website:
    http://musicstore.nokia.com/

    @James Burland
    Not the dumbest idea.
    However that requires two things as I can see it.
    1. It requires internet access via your operator. That is to be able to e.g. get your IMEI or phone number so they recognize that you have subscribed to their service.
    2. The operator provides good bandwidth.

    Here in Norway we have this subscription for Mobile TV which is offered by the operator Telenor.
    I used their service as a pilot user (and writing feedbacks) and you had to stream the TV via your mobile and via the operator’s accesspoint.

    So the above statements are just from my previous experience really.

    If they could change to another model, such as logging into a service first and then start the streaming you could get around this problem.

    @Furie
    That is in fact one of the main reasons why I really dislike (HATE) DRM.

    I’ve bought for instance clips of Lenore via the Download! in my phone and it appeared to have DRM, not exactly a suprise since it was Sony.
    When resetting the device they key was lost and there weren’t even any solution to it again without paying.

    I really don’t mind DRM if it’s used in such a way that you can e.g. backup your keys in an easy way.
    Unfortunately they think too much in “PC Style”, with that I mean that the keys are stored in the phone memory. However unlike on a PC where you can browse and find the keys.
    This is impossible on the newer Symbian Devices.
    (Without hacking it, still haven’t found them though)
    I do understand that this is due to security and to prevent that the average user mess up their phones.
    Unfortunately this thinking don’t work.

    So all in all the conclusion is that I rather would pay more for DRM free music than having “Comes with music”.
    If DRM must be used I would prefer the watermark rather than any other solutions of DRM.

  • Pratish

    Oke .. Thanks Cheung

  • Pratish

    Oke .. Thanks Cheung

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