Trust the tech industry to have no respect for the media. I mean, I only just finished a roundup of current rivals to iTunes and Nokia has the gumption to launch a brand new one this very day.
Nokia’s store is aimed largely at its own customers, enabling over-the-air downloads of tracks to Nokia’s N81 handsets, either via Wi-Fi or 3G. The tracks will then sync with your computer. Of course, you can download music onto your PC as well, though it doesn’t seem as though Macs are supported (boo, hiss). The 192kbps tracks are WMA files, encoded with Microsoft’s DRM scheme, and cost €1 apiece, with albums runnning €10.
Any threat to iTunes? Nah, not particularly. It’s too limited in appeal and reach with so few compatible devices. The over-the-air purchasing is nice, and it’s certainly cheaper than competing ventures from many wireless providers. But if you want my opinion—and face it, why else would you be reading?—I fully expect it to fade into obscurity in the next few months, and be discontinued with a couple of years.
[via Engadget]
