Sony Ericsson to launch phones with all-you-can-eat music
Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it is launching a Comes With Music-style unlimited download service, although it will not be available in the UK until 2009.
Oh, big whoop Sony Ericsson. Don't you know that Nokia have already announced the same thing earlier this month? You're too late. Oh wait, there's more:
However, unlike the Nokia service, which has yet to sign a deal with EMI, Sony Ericsson claims all four majors are on board.
...Consumers who sign up will receive a Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman phone pre-loaded with 1,000 “of the most recent popular local and global digital songs”, together with ‘all-you-can-eat’ unlimited access to millions of music tracks.
So that means, Warner Music, Sony BMG, and Universal are also all on board. There's one catch though. It won't be available in the UK until 2009.
But all in all, though this move was was inevitable, its a big step forward. The labels are desperately trying to find a good way to give DRM-free access to songs and still make money out of it, and the handset manufacturers are looking for ways to challenge the dominance of Apple's iPod and iPhone. While they all battle it out, consumers are offered greater choice. Happy days.
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