DRM Woes; Nokia's Music Service On Way to U.S.

By Aaron Heibert, published on March 3, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: , , , , | Themes: 3GSM
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Although Nokia’s “Comes With Music” service has not been launched in the U.S. yet, people are wondering if it will come with DRM when it actually does.

Comes With Music is a service that Nokia offers to subscribers which allows them to download unlimited songs from a library containing millions of selections in the Nokia Music Store. Comes With Music is reportedly going to launch in the U.S. later this year, although it has been launched in Singapore and the United Kingdom – Australia is set to get it on March 20, 2009.

Subscription to Comes With Music adds approximately $100 to the cost of a phone. In the U.S. that phone will be the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which was unveiled last week. The 5800 is viewed to be the challenger to the Apple iPhone.

The big question is, will the Comes With Music service include Digital Rights Management as it currently does, when it arrives in the U.S.? Currently, subscribers can download music on a single phone and make one copy on one computer and the songs remain playable after the subscription expires. However, iPhone recently removed all DRM protection from its music and video library available to customers of the iTunes Store.

Unlike Apple, which has only ever released two phones in its lifetime, not long ago, Nokia is no stranger to the mobile phone market. Nokia has not mentioned anything regarding DRM and the Comes With Music service for launch in the U.S. – it has also refrained from comments when asked.

With iTunes' dominance, it will interesting to see how this plays out when the service launches later this year.

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Comments

hellwig 03/03/2009 9:22 PM
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The XpressMusic is NOT an iPhone competitor. Its a phone with a focus on playing music and other multi-media. Why do people say "this or that is an iPhone competitor"? I mean, this very website had an article about how the new Samsung Behold isn't a smart phone, why would the XpressMusic be one either (or is this decidedly pro-Apple website suggesting the iPhone isn't a smart phone)?

That said, the Nokia Music store currently uses WMA with WM DRM, but the PC software rips CDs into eAAC+ format. Sounds like Nokia is all over the board with what format they want to use. If it does have DRM, it will be the WM DRM format. Wouldn't be a smart move by any means, considering Amazon and iTunes both offer DRM-free direct-to-phone services for compatible phones.

tenor77 03/04/2009 6:54 PM
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hellwig-
My toaster is an iPhone killer. Can the iPhone make toast? I rest my case.

People want toast.

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