Guest shadamehr Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 Top40-charts.com is reporting an interesting story that Napster is now going 'mobile' - via the Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone (the HTC Typhoon handset). LOS ANGELES (Napster PR) - Napster, a division of Roxio, today announced that Napster To Go, the world's first portable music subscription service, is available for users of the new AT&T Wireless-based Audiovox SMT5600 Smartphone. The Napster To Go / Audiovox SMT5600 compatibility enables the only mobile phone in the U.S. market to allow music fans to seamlessly transfer and play an unlimited number of full-length songs on the go for one low monthly price of $14.95. The Smartphone also supports individual tracks purchased by Napster subscribers or downloaded a la carte from the Napster Light store. "Napster was the first service to make the promise of the portable subscription model a reality, and today we are taking that innovation to the wireless marketplace," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and CEO. "This new phone from Audiovox and AT&T Wireless furthers Napster's mission to provide music lovers with the ability to conveniently enjoy the most comprehensive digital music experience available."So clearly the costing and download model is obviously quite different for the Smartphone platform, compared with a PC, for obvious reasons... The quote continues with some specs of the handset itself: The Audiovox SMT5600 comes with 28.5mb of internal flash memory which can hold up to 6 songs. Consumers can purchase miniSD memory chips for additional song storage in either 128mb or 256mb varieties, which can hold approximately two and four hours of songs respectively. MiniSD chips are currently widely available for under $25 each. Powered by the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition Software, the new Audiovox SMT5600 contains the latest in personal information management (PIM) functionality such as over-the-air access to Outlook Calendar, Inbox and Contacts. In addition to these productivity-focused features, the Audiovox SMT5600 also features the CMOS VGA digital camera with camcorder functionality, a speakerphone and conference calling functionalities, includes pocket versions of Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer and MSN Messenger and is enabled for Bluetooth and infrared support. Compatible with all PCs running Windows XP, the Audiovox SMT5600 weighs just 3.6 ounces and is available through AT&T wireless for as little as $149.99 after rebates with a two-year voice and data service contract. In September 2004, Napster previewed the unprecedented, fully portable digital music subscription service, Napster To Go. Expected to officially debut later this year with the release of Napster 3.0, Napster To Go is currently available via a plug-in to the Windows Media Player 10 at an introductory $14.95 per month and lets consumers move an unlimited amount of music from Napster's massive library to compatible MP3 players and portable devices. This is an interesting proposition, and I look forward to word of a European launch hopefully in the future if we are lucky enough over the water! Source article: top40-charts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThatTree Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 I just tried this out, and it's great! Basically you sign up for Napster to Go through your Windows Media Player 10 (on your computer). Then you download the tracks without buying them (this is what I think is called a "tethered" download, tied to your Napster subscription). Next, add selected tracks to your WMP10 Sync List and sync to the phone. Finally, update the library in Windows Media Player. The synced content plays just like any other track you transferred. I buy a lot of music on CD, so it's going to take some adjusting for me to figure out what the role of rented music will be for me -- probably a mix of individual tracks from albums I don't want, combined with a full-track preview capability for discs I ultimately want to buy outright. I wish that the rental services for downloadable music weren't so location-/nation-specific - my tastes run more toward UK/Euro, but it's currently impossible short of card fraud to sign up for, say, MyCokeMusic (UK rental/download service) if you are US-based. Overall this is great and adds to what has already been an awesome user experience so far with my Audiovox SMT 5600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nickcornaglia Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 I've been using Napster as my music service and have not bought a CD in a long time. But I have not subscribed to their premium service yet that allows you unlimited listening to their whole library all month long. I think this service ccosts $9.99 per month. But I'm waiting for the day when one can directly stream any song they want directly on their phone right from the internet without the use of a pc. Now I'd pay for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blowdart Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 So clearly the costing and download model is obviously quite different for the Smartphone platform, compared with a PC No it's not. It's exactly the same. Napster off 2 subscription types, and the "all you can eat" is their premier service for the PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PinkPig Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 Wow! I really hope this gets launched in the UK for the C500 - would be great to be able to fill a 512MB miniSD with new music (and legally) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest midnight Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 why wouldnt it work with the c500 already? it syncs with WMP10 no probs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blowdart Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 why wouldnt it work with the c500 already? it syncs with WMP10 no probs Depends on the DRM rules (I spent a couple of years doing this stuff). Basically the Windows Media DRM libraries are *very* flexible. You can setup time limited plays, maximum number of plays, burns, stop if it's Saturday and so on. You can also control if it transfers to portable devices, what rules affect the portable player, how many times you can transfer and how secure the portable player has to be. There is not technological reason why you cannot transfer to phones, you simply need to set 2 license properties before you issue the license to the desktop. Licensing may come into play though, and you need the labels' permissions. Now really it's no different than transferring it to a portable WMP layer. So really, this is a marketing announcement. There's nothing new here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hbfair Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 The Register (www.theregister.co.uk) has it's own take on this story: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/04/na...napster_phones/ For those who don't know, "El Reg" is a British-based IT/tech news site (there's an international/US version also available). It's dry-humoured, cynical and opinionated - but in a good way. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PinkPig Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 why wouldnt it work with the c500 already? it syncs with WMP10 no probs I didn't think that the C500 (without WMP10) had any support for DRM files? It would need to be subscription and time based DRM, which I thought was one of the new features in WMP10. Might be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest midnight Posted November 4, 2004 Report Share Posted November 4, 2004 ah yeh, of course, DRM, forgot about that ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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